I note that Clive has an amazing ability to understand the motivations of people he has never even met.
People are complex, and motivations are rarely simple. * Clive Hamilton said, "But, you see, the reason why these conservatives [e.g., Murray Edwards and Bill Gates] like geoengineering, it's because they see it as a substitute for reducing carbon dioxide emissions.* I don't know that these people "like" geoengineering or whether they just think it is important to investigate in the face of growing climate risk, but in any case I do know that Bill Gates does not "see it as a substitute for reducing carbon dioxide emissions". You can see from his TED talk that his emphasis is on reducing emissions. http://www.ted.com/talks/bill_gates.html Clive is just making stuff up. On Wed, May 22, 2013 at 3:40 PM, Andrew Lockley <[email protected]>wrote: > Poster's note : This is part of a series. I won't post them all. > > http://blogs.redding.com/dcraig/archives/2013/05/the-age-of-clim-2.html > > The age of climate engineering is upon us (3) > > Some billionaires are playing both side of this game. Take Murray Edwards, > for example. Edwards is a major investor in the Canadian oil sands, "but he > also has put money into a company called Carbon Engineering, managed--owned > by David Keith, the scientist we saw, and in which Bill Gates has an > investment.Speaking on Democracy Now! yesterday, Clive Hamilton said, "But, > you see, the reason why these conservatives like geoengineering, it's > because they see it as a substitute for reducing carbon dioxide emissions. > They see it as a permanent solution to global warming. They see it as > a...vindication of the system. They see...geoengineering as a way of > protecting the system, of preserving the political economic system, whereas > others say the problem is the political and economic system, and it's that > which we have to change."Relying on climate engineering is not risk-free > Hamilton reports. In fact, "The potential risks are enormous: disrupting > the food chain, damaging the ozone layer, the loss of monsoon rains in > Asia." Hamilton explains that while "installing this solar shield around > the Earth through a sulfate aerosol layer...will certainly cool the > Earth...it will also affect and change global rainfall patterns." In > fact, "it could shift the Indian monsoon...which provides the annual water > for a billion or more people."Hamilton asks us to consider what happens > if "either the United States or China decides, in a desperate state, to > install this solar shield, and it shifts the Indian monsoon, and there's a > massive continuing drought, and people are going hungry."What then?While > all of us are unintentionally conspiring together to alter the climate of > the Earth through our greenhouse gas emissions, Hamilton asks us to > consider the "geopolitical implications" when we turn to our government to > save us from ourselves with geoengineering schemes.He states, "Here you've > got a government, probably, backed by the military, probably, or in > collaboration with their military, actually setting out to regulate the > temperature of the Earth, which may suit their interests. It may help fix > their climate, but if it's severely damaging the climate of another > country, particularly a poor country, I mean, what are they going to do? If > it's a nuclear-armed country--you know, these are the kind of scenarios > that are attracting the attention of the military planners, who are > now--the Pentagon, for example, is taking an interest in geoengineering, > because they can see some of these longer-term implications."It is the > age-old problem. As we seek to solve one problem we create several more. > And we can't be naive. Our always amusing and gullible denier friends may > have their heads in the sand as they deny the most obvious scientific facts > of global climate change. However, there aren't any deniers in the Pentagon > or in China's military leadership. They take global warming extremely > seriously and are considering the inevitability of geoengineering.Hamilton > discussed the "militarization of climate change itself, the geostrategic > implications of a changing climate around the world, the potential > destabilization that it is likely to bring about, particularly if we > continue to do little about it. And so, when it comes to geoengineering > schemes, using technology to essentially take control of the world's > climate, it's no wonder that the Pentagon has now got people, you know, on > the case, watching the scientific debate and taking note of the fact, for > example, that China a year ago included geoengineering amongst its earth > science research priorities."We can see that the emergence of a kind of > global situation, where a number of nations are starting to investigate > geoengineering, in the absence of regulation or, at this stage, any kind of > global cooperation or transparency, and so it's no wonder that the Pentagon > is taking an interest in it. I mean, it would be derelict in its duty if it > weren't taking an interest in the emerging science and geopolitics of > geoengineering."Of course, we could just not heat up the climate in the > first place but we seem intent on doing this the hard way. > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "geoengineering" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/geoengineering?hl=en. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. > > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "geoengineering" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. 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