On Saturday, July 28, 2012 6:27:43 PM UTC-4, Mick West wrote: > > Is it possible that someone might be doing geoengineering, and we would > not even know it? > > In Alan Robock's paper *Will Geoengineering [with SRM] Ever Be Used*, > posted to the list yesterday, he says rather dramatically: > > *"Even suggestions of temporary geoengineering to relieve the most > dangerous aspects of global warming will be met with so many of the above > issues that there will never be world agreement to implement. I can imagine > worse scenarios, including global nuclear war started in response to > unilateral geoengineering implementation."* > > But is it possible that a nation could avoid both the insurmountable > obstacle of obtaining world agreement, and the possibility of severe > sanctions over unilateral action, by doing it in a manner that could not be > detected? > > Given that the actual *results* of geoengineering would most likely be > lost in the noise, is it actually technically possible to perform SRM > geoengineering on a large scale in a manner that could not be detected? Or > will all the possible schemes be impossible to hide, being either too > visible in deployment, or leaving some tell-tale physical or chemical > signature? > > One could approach the question from two directions, firstly from the > point of view of the rogue nation; if you were to devise a clandestine yet > effective SRM scheme, then what would it consist of? Modifications to the > nation's domestic jet fuel? A secret fleet of spray tankers operating from > a remote base? Ballistic big guns in the wilderness? Atomic bombs in > volcanoes? > > Secondly, from the point of view of the world community, if you suspect > such a thing might happen (or even already be happening) then how do you go > about detecting it? Unaccounted radiative forcing changes? Changes in > atmospheric sulphur loading? If we get a moratorium on SRM, then how do we > "trust, but verify". > > I think the question is important from a governance and global politics > point of view, but it's also interesting as a surprisingly large and vocal > number of people actually *believe* that covert geoengineering is > currently being carried out by governments. See: Public understanding of > solar radiation management, A M Mercer, D W Keith, and J D > Sharp<http://iopscience.iop.org/1748-9326/6/4/044006/> > : > > *3.4. Conspiracy theories* > > *One of the voices emerging in the SRM debate is that of ‘chemtrails’ > believers. This small group believes that organizations, such as > governments, are already distributing chemicals in the atmosphere for a > variety of purposes, ranging from culling the population to mind control. > We found that 2.6% of the subjects believe that it is completely true that > the government has a secret program that uses airplanes to put harmful > chemicals into the air, and 14% of the sample believes that this is partly > true.* > > The most common purpose ascribed to the supposed spraying is actually > covert geoengineering. A better understanding of what covert geoengineering > would entail, and how it might be detected, would allow a > more rigorous debunking of the various conspiracy theories. > > Mick West > > contrailscience.com Tell that to the Irainians Its not just chemmies > . >
-- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "geoengineering" group. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msg/geoengineering/-/C6Peq2-zzn8J. 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.
