Secretive Science Behind Blocking Out the Sun
February 16th, 2010
Billionaires Bill Gates and Richard Branson are funneling millions of dollars into far-out solutions to climate change. It’s called geoengineering and these high-risk, planet-altering schemes are already underway. Joining host Daphne Wysham to discuss these plans is Diana Bronson of the ETC Group in Montreal, Canada.
The massive snowstorms that blanketed the nation’s capitol are just one instance of odd-ball weather this winter. Joining us to discuss the connections between the weather and climate change is Dr. Amanda Staudt, a climate scientist for the National Wildlife Federation.
The sweet smell of success on coal-fired power. Bruce Nilles, the director of the Sierra Club’s national coal campaign, joins us to discuss how nearly all of the 150 planned coal-fired power plants have been stopped nationwide.
Image from Valkyrieh116 via Flickr – all rights reserved.
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February 19th, 2010 at 8:46 pm
Today, nuclear and coal account for 64% of US electrical power generation. As I understand the position of your guest, he would like to eliminate all of this. It is all baseload power.
Wind and solar proponents tend to gloss over the cost that would be incurred if these technologies were to have to supply all of US electricity. It isn’t just the cost of the turbines or the collectors. You need a new grid, and you will need storage.
Why oppose nuclear power? I’ve heard Caldicott on this show explain why she is opposed, and I would term her arguments stupefyingly bad. All your current guest had to say were the standard trumped up arguments about cost and the waste.
Why not, as Stephen Chu has said again and again, look at nuclear power with new eyes? People made up their mind about this technology when the dangers of fossil fuel emissions were not widely appreciated. You continue to host people who reject the technology who are not reappraising it.
Re: geoengineering. We are conducting a massive geoengineering experiment right now, by altering the composition of the entire planetary atmosphere by increasing the concentration of greenhouse gases. This is not a benign thing. It threatens the existence of civilization.
The ETC group opposed a relatively tiny ocean fertilization experiment last year demonstrating that they don’t want any research no matter what. They act as if they could care less that anyone, no matter how reputable, should look into what might be done if civilization finds itself in extremis facing war now, billions of deaths now, etc.
You might want to educate yourself on the possibilities of abrupt climate change. What, exactly, is your plan if, next year, there is a 10 degree C change in a very large area such as Europe? Look up what happened during the Younger Dryas. Read Richard Alley’s book Two Mile Time Machine. What happened in the past, i.e. dramatic and sudden change in climate over a very arge region if not the entire planet, can happen again.
Your claim to fame will be that you opposed low carbon power generation, i.e. nuclear power, and you spread fear and gibberish about geoengineering.
March 5th, 2010 at 8:29 am
Mike MacCracken, Chair of the Scientific Organizing Committee of the Asilomar conference your rep from ETC is so worried about, has circulated this about the ETC claims about “almost exclusively white male scientists”, and the plea that all this talk must be “brought out into the open where all can participate”:
“Actually Alvia, Diana/ETC was invited, including a follow-up inquiry, and Diana told me they chose not to be represented. And there are at least several more than two dozen female scientists/experts coming as participants….” -Mike MacCracken
January 7th, 2011 at 9:38 am
I don’t usually reply to posts but I will in this case. WoW