There was an old Star Trek episode years ago (NG) called “Who Watches the Watchers” and that episode come to mind when it comes to climate change geoengineering. Those planning to geoengineer our way out of climate change are making plans supposedly to “save the world” which is a noble cause, but who is saving us from them?   There are no current regulations against what they are doing and planning  (other than regular laws) and no one to stop these people from launching their private experiments that could irreparably change or harm our climate, sea, or land.  There was even a recent convention called The Asilomar International Conference on Climate Intervention Technologies in California, which just ended on Friday, March 26th. Have we had the convention yet where it’s decided whether geoengineering the climate is a good idea? The conference was sponsored by the admirable-sounding “Climate Response Fund“.

The UNFCCC and world government leaders are meeting on a regular basis to decide what to do about climate change and though they are not making any real apparent headway yet, that doesn’t mean a bunch of rogue scientists can plan to alter the atmosphere of the planet on their own, without oversight.  Climate Intervention News is reported on their site, and it’s very interesting that this is all going on under the radar of most of the media.  Does any of this make you nervous?  It should.*  Our first mission is to cut GHG emissions, not change the ecosystems of the planet.  From the Blue Marble: Bad Fixes.

“Tinkering with the Earth and its atmosphere in an attempt to fend off global warming—a.k.a. geoengineering—seems like the stuff of science fiction: Lacing the stratosphere with sulfur aerosols or whitening clouds over the ocean to reflect sunlight back into space. Fertilizing the oceans with iron to help them absorb more carbon dioxide. It’s big science on a comic-book scale, and as such, it carries no small dose of risk and controversy.

“Some of these technologies seem inappropriate,” Victor Menotti, director of the International Forum on Globalization, told MoJo at a press briefing Thursday. “There’s a sort of scientific arrogance that these experiments will be manageable. But before we get into talking about a Plan B, we want to get back to how we can cut emissions.”

“People think this is still science fiction, but it’s not,” added Silvia Ribeiro, program manager for ETC Group, an environmental advocacy organization. “Science [magazine] said this conference was like geoengineering coming out of the closet.”

She’s referring to the Asilomar International Conference on Climate Intervention Technologies, where I’ve spent the past week schmoozing some of the field’s top researchers. ETC Group has circulated a letter—signed by dozens of like-minded organizations—questioning the entire conference and the motives of its attendees. (You can download the group’s report here.) Quoting the conference’s stated goal, Ribeiro [...]