Documentary Challenges Safety Of Geoengineering

Source: NorthJersey.com, article by Lianna Albrizio

It was a day like no other in 2013 when George Barnes was outside his River Edge home. The award-winning director of photography was testing his time-lapse camera when he made a chance observation that changed his life.

While fortuitously playing the footage of the Volkswagen Beetle launch campaign backwards in high-speed, Barnes noticed that the lengthy white lines in the sky painted and erased were left behind by flying jets – research that led him to the conclusion that evidence exists of the practice of climate engineering. The practice, also called "geoengineering," is something Barnes defines as "the large-scale manipulation of the atmosphere," which is used by climate scientists to fight global warming.

"My heart stopped," he said of the images. "When I saw it, I knew something was terribly wrong with what I was looking at."

Climate engineering can be conducted through carbon dioxide removal and solar radiation management, which works to force the earth to absorb lesser amounts of solar radiation with the goal to mitigate the effects of greenhouse gases. Barnes, however, says there are concerns over the potential hazards the act could pose on humans. In an article published in "The Guardian" last year, environmental philosopher Stephen Gardiner points to questions of ethics concerning its practice.

"The climate is off the rails so to speak," said Barnes. "The problem I see is that the increase in climate engineering experimentation [is] putting everyone at risk due to chemical fallout."

That year, Barnes released the first of an evolving documentary he simply pegs, "Look Up!" which is narrated by William Baldwin, to raise awareness about the issue and urge viewers to be aware of the potential danger climate engineering may have on one’s health. After further research into the matter, the film’s runtime grew to 110 minutes as he secured a string of interview subjects, most of which, Barnes says, reached out to him. They include Harvard Professor Dr. David Keith, who was named one of Time magazine’s Heroes of the Environment 2009 and is the recipient of Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s prize for excellence in experimental physics, and Foster and Kimberly Gamble. In the documentary, Keith talks about the dangers of aluminum while the Gambles discuss communal efforts to protest climate engineering. Dr. Douglas Levine, a cancer survivor and executive director of Life After Cancer Network, talks about the health implications of heavy metals in the atmosphere and their possible risk in causing certain cancers and Alzheimer’s disease, to name a few.

The film is shot in Bergen County and other parts of the country that Barnes says has "heavy spray activity," which include Florida, California and Colorado. The lines and so-called artificial clouds in the sky, he argues, are caused, in part, by specific planes which spray various chemicals out of their novels into the atmosphere, which he believes can affect the water supply.

That year, Barnes created the SkyderALERT App — which he said ranked in at No. 5 on the social networking apps on iTunes last year — so that people can snap a photo of suspicious nebulous images in the sky and send a petition along to their appropriate legislators, and to the SkyderALERT website, where they get posted on a map of the United States to track the existence of them through the country. The app’s success, he says, was surprising. He added that there have been growing concerns about the practice in places like Wyoming, Canada, Oregon, Florida and Georgia, to name a few.

To date, billboards have been bolstering the issue around the country. In Atlanta, Ga., one reads, "Look Up! God no longer controls the weather. Get informed." Another in Lansing, Mich. declares, "#Chemicals #ToxicSkys #Bad4You."

"It’s been an incredible journey to see so many people get behind this movement," Barnes said.

"Look Up!" will make its premiere at the Washington Township Cinema 3 on Tuesday, Jan. 20 at 7 p.m. Reserve tickets at https://gathr.us/screening/reserve/9874.

Source: NorthJersey.com, article by Lianna Albrizio