Lest some of you be misled by David's attempt at sarcasm, NRDC is not a grant-making organization.
----- Original Message ----- From: [email protected] <[email protected]> To: geoengineering <[email protected]> Sent: Mon Jan 19 07:55:43 2009 Subject: [geo] Source of Research Funding Dear Colleagues: We have a benefactor – the Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc. (NRDC). David Hawkins, Director of the NRDC Climate Center has now publicly announced he is not opposed to support for geoengineering. He begins with not being opposed to this research, “I do not oppose research on geoengineering approaches” (Jan 18, 2009 at 4:03 PM). But he goes further, “As for field trials, I have not opposed these either but am interested in how they can be designed to provide useful information to reduce the risks of broader deployment activities.” (Jan 18, 2009 at 5:30 PM) But, NRDC is not simply “not opposed” to this kind of research. Using emotive language not unlike that recently discussed by this group, NRDC testified before Congress that: “Inaction on climate change also increases the chance of an abrupt, irreversible catastrophe, which would be much worse than the predictable costs of inaction” “The most catastrophic dangers from climate change are so immense that even if we believe the chance of catastrophe is small, it is irresponsible to ignore them. Taking action against climate change is life insurance for our home planet, needed to protect everyone’s children.” NRDC, June 19, 2008 http://docs.nrdc.org/globalWarming/files/glo_08061901A.pdf In other words, NRDC recognizes we are facing a catastrophe and that we need an insurance policy approach to deal with this problem. But what about geoengineering? The word does not appear on the NRDC website: ____________________________________________________ Advanced Search Search Tips All NRDC Sites & Documents Main NRDC Website Only Search Search took 1.88 seconds. Your search - geoengineering - did not match any documents. No pages were found containing "geoengineering". ____________________________________________________ That not withstanding, the Director of the NRDC Climate Center has posted to this group his specific wishes to know: “What does it take by way of a modelling (sic) effort to move us from conjecture to robust analytical support for the proposition that the grid cell level effects can in priniciple (sic) be tuned to produce good outcomes? More importantly, what would it take to come up with field trials that would if carried out give a range of experts confidence that the analytics can be relied on as robust in the real world?” (October 2008) The implication of this query from NRDC’s Climate Center Director is the evidence of NRDC’s support for research into geoengineering and a signal that they would be interested in research proposals. Fortunately, NRDC has the resources to invest in the research. In 2007, NRDC had a working budget of $75 million and over $125 million in the bank at years end. In 2006, NRDC spend over $7 million in printing alone. Without question, they have the capacity to put 5% (about $3.5 million) of their budget to research on a subject they consider a catastrophic danger that it is irresponsible to ignore. If you have an unfunded proposal for a field trial that would give a range of experts confidence that the analytics can be relied on as robust in the real world, you can send a grant request to: David Hawkins Director Climate Center Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc. 1200 New York Ave., NW, Suite 400 Washington, DC 20005 This is great news! Cheers, David Schnare Center for Environmental Stewardship --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "geoengineering" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/geoengineering?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
