Having been at the Woods Hole meeting, I am well aware that the
oceanographic community is interested in legitimate OIF ³patch² experiments
and they were quite vexed by proprietary companies planning to go forward
with commercialization plans.



On 9/26/10 12:09 PM, "Dan Whaley" <[email protected]> wrote:

> You stipulate this James, however, how do you reconcile this with the fact
> that for the last two years, the LC has been working to draft a Risk
> Management Framework for OIF so that field experiments that meet the criteria
> of "legitimate scientific research" might actually continue-- specifically in
> order to decrease our "ignorance of the subject"!  This is being done in a
> regulatory body which includes many people that are extremely wary of this
> concept, and yet on the balance they have agreed to move forward.  The vote to
> move forward with the language that provides for "legitimate scientific
> research" was unanimous between all contracting parties.
> 
> Many people contributed to the thinking, the scientific basis, and the
> environmental impact analysis of why this made sense, and why it would not be
> a threat to the marine environment, the preservation of which is the mandate
> of this body.
> 
> Do you not believe that it is possible to assess the specific impact of
> specific experiments at specific scales in such a way as to make a
> determination of their safety?  
> 
> Many thoughtful people disagree with you.  Perhaps a more detailed, scientific
> rationale as to why this is the case would be more helpful.  I'd like to
> understand your thinking.
> 
> D
> 
> 
> On Sun, Sep 26, 2010 at 8:45 AM, James R. Fleming <[email protected]> wrote:
>> Our ignorance of a subject is a justification for not doing field
>> experiments.  Do what you like behind closed doors.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> On 9/26/10 10:59 AM, "Stephen Salter" <[email protected]
>> <http://[email protected]> > wrote:
>> 
>>>    Hi All
>>>  
>>>  It is good to have the correct attributions to wise statements but the main
>>> point of my reply to James was the attempt to get comments and help for
>>> small experiments which he had said could not be done.  It is odd to say
>>> that our ignorance of a subject is a justification for NOT doing research on
>>> it.
>>>  
>>>  Stephen
>>>  
>>> Emeritus Professor of Engineering Design
>>> Institute for Energy Systems
>>> School of Engineering
>>> Mayfield Road
>>> University of Edinburgh EH9  3JL
>>> Scotland
>>> Tel +44 131 650 5704
>>> Mobile 07795 203 195
>>> www.see.ed.ac.uk/~shs <http://www.see.ed.ac.uk/%7Eshs>
>>> <http://www.see.ed.ac.uk/~shs <http://www.see.ed.ac.uk/%7Eshs> >
>>>  
>>>  On 25/09/2010 22:17, James R. Fleming wrote:
>>>>   Re: [geo] Fleming in Slate magazine (also others articles) Colleagues:
>>>> 
>>>>  
>>>>  Stephen Salter wrote: Ken has pointed out that we are already carrying out
>>>> an dangerous planetary test which we do not understand.  Lowell says that
>>>> we started it thousands of years ago.
>>>>  
>>>>  I believe the proper attribution for these ideas are not Caldeira and Wood
>>>> but a combination of Glbert Plass and Roger Revelle and Hans Suess for the
>>>> first and William Ruddiman for the second.
>>>>  
>>>>   
>>>>>  "If at the end of this century, measurements show that the carbon dioxide
>>>>> content of the atmosphere has risen appreciably and at the same time the
>>>>> temperature has continued to rise throughout the world, it will be firmly
>>>>> established that carbon dioxide is an important factor in causing climatic
>>>>> change² -- Gilbert Plass (1956).
>>>>>  
>>>>>  "Human beings are now carrying out a large scale geophysical experiment
>>>>> of a kind that could not have happened in the past nor be reproduced in
>>>>> the future.  Within a few centuries we are returning to the atmosphere and
>>>>> oceans the concentrated organic carbon stored in sedimentary rocks over
>>>>> hundreds of millions of years.  This experiment, if adequately documented,
>>>>> may yield a far-reaching insight into the processes determining weather
>>>>> and climate² -- REvelle and Suess (1957).
>>>>>  
>>>>>  ³The hypothesis (Ruddiman, 2003
>>>>> <http://courses.eas.ualberta.ca/eas457/Ruddiman2003.pdf>
>>>>> <http://courses.eas.ualberta.ca/eas457/Ruddiman2003.pdf%3E> ) that early
>>>>> agriculture caused large enough emissions of greenhouse gases millennia
>>>>> ago to offset a natural climatic cooling remains controversial² --
>>>>> Ruddiman.
>>>>>   
>>>>  
>>>>  Also, there is no doubt that clouds can be brightened (by ships tracks,
>>>> etc.), but is this a climate test? Do you know that in 1947 Kathleen
>>>> Blodget at General Electric told Irving Langmiur that intervening in a
>>>> cloud was something much different than ³controlling the weather?²  Seems
>>>> to have fallen on Langmuir¹s deaf ears.
>>>>  
>>>>  Jim Fleming --
>>>>  You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
>>>> "geoengineering" group.
>>>>  To post to this group, send email to [email protected]
>>>> <http://[email protected]> .
>>>>  To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
>>>> [email protected]
>>>> <http://[email protected]> .
>>>>  For more options, visit this group at
>>>> http://groups.google.com/group/geoengineering?hl=en.
>>>>  
>>>  
>>> 
>>> The University of Edinburgh is a charitable body, registered in
>>> Scotland, with registration number SC005336.
>>> 
>>> 

-- 
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.

Reply via email to