What’s missing from David Keith’s climate change charm offensive
by Jim Thomas Source: http://www.mediacoop.ca/story/david-keith-geoengineering/22405
Last Sunday, CBC listeners across Canada enjoyed their morning coffee and took care of a few chores around the house while the calm, mellifluous vocal cadences of Michael Enright and his guest David Keith washed over them. Keith, Enright said while introducing his guest, is a prominent and well-respected scientist, and the author of “The Case for Climate Engineering.”
Although both David Suzuki and Al Gore had branded Keith’s proposals “insane, utterly mad and delusional in the extreme” Enright took pains to reassure listeners that his guest — a Harvard professor — was perfectly sane. Enright was kinder to Keith than Stephen Colbert had been a few months previous, and so unfortunately avoided a number of tough questions.
Climate Geoengineering is the process of attempting to counteract climate change by large-scale methods other than reducing carbon emissions. These include spraying tonnes of sulphuric acid into the atmosphere (Keith’s preferred option), mounting giant space mirrors to reflect sunlight and slow its warming effects, dumping tonnes of iron filings into the ocean to stimulate plankton growth, and sucking carbon out of the atmosphere with giant fans.
These measures have been opposed both because of their unpredictable effects and the fact that they give an excuse to rich countries to continue to increase carbon emissions on the basis of trumped-up techno-promises. In the same breath, Keith acknowledges and dismisses these criticisms.
Environmentalists who oppose geoengineering, Keith told Enright, are “more committed to their answer to the problem than really thinking in what I feel is a morally clear way about what our duties are to this generation and reducing the risks that they feel.”
Keith made the case for geoengineering, but he also made the case that those who oppose geoengineering are doing so because they have priorities other than slowing down the effects climate change. He aligned geoengineering with concerns about “how we want to leave the planet for our great-grandkids.” He took the time to talk about kayaking trips, and how he was motivated by a love of the natural world.
Keith didn’t take the time to mention a few other details. For those who are skeptical about Keith’s case for geoengineering, here are five things that Keith didn’t mention, and Enright kindly didn’t bring up.
1. David Keith runs a geoengineering company funded by tar sands money
In addition to being an author and a professor, David Keith heads up Carbon Engineering, a Calgary-based startup that is developing air-capture technologies for removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. The company is funded by Bill Gates, who is also a geoengineering proponent, and by N. Murray Edwards, an Alberta billionaire who made his fortune in oil and gas. Edwards is said to be the largest individual investor in the tar sands, and is on the board of Canadian Natural Resources Limited, a major tar sands extraction company. Carbon Engineering hopes to sell the carbon dioxide it extracts to oil companies to help in Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR)- a technique for squeezing more fossil fuels out of the ground which will in turn be burnt to produce more atmospheric carbon.
2. The geoengineering that Keith proposes could be disastrous for the Global South
A study of the likely effects of one of the methods Keith is promoting, spraying sulphuric acid into the atmosphere with the aim of reflecting sunlight could cause “calamitous drought” in the Sahel region of Africa. Home to 100 million people, the Sahel is Africa’s poorest region. Previous droughts have been devastating. A 20-year dry period ending in 1990 claimed 250,000 lives. Other models predict possible monsoon failure in South Asia or impacts on Mexico and Brazil, depending where you spray the sulphur.
3. Keith’s geoengineering proposals are deeply aligned with the financial interests of the fossil fuel industry
If oil, natural gas and coal companies can’t extract the fossil fuels that they say they’re going to extract, they stand to lose trillions of dollars in stock value, $2 trillion in annual subsidies, and about $55 trillion in infrastructure. David Keith’s enthusiasm for geoengineering plays to the commercial interests of these companies whose share value depends on their ability to convince investors that they can continue to take the coal out of the hole and the oil out of the soil. This may be why fossil-sponsored neoconservative think tanks such as the American Enterprise Institute and the Heartland Institute have been so gung-ho for geoengineering research and development along exactly the lines that David Keith proposes. For example there is very little difference between what Keith proposes and what the American Enterprise Institute’s Geoengineering project calls for.
4. Climate scientists just issued a new round of criticisms of geoengineering
In the most recent report of Working Group II of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), released before Keith’s interview aired, climate scientists loosed a new salvo of problems with various geoengineering schemes. “Geoengineering,” according to the report, “poses widespread risks to society and ecosystems.” In some models, Solar Radiation Management (SRM) — what Keith is pitching — “leads to ozone depletion and reduces precipitation.” And if SRM measures are started and then stopped for whatever reason, it creates a risk of ”rapid climate change.”
5. There’s already a widely-backed moratorium on geoengineering
While David Keith discussed possible ways of governing geoengineering internationally he failed to mention that at least one UN convention was already dealing with the topic. The broadest decision yet on geoengineering, a 193-country consensus reached at the UN Convention on Biodiversity specifies that unless certain criteria are met, “no climate-related geo-engineering activities that may affect biodiversity take place.” The moratorium is to remain in effect until geoengineering’s impacts on biodiversity and livelihood are analyzed, scientific evaluation is possible, and “science based, global, transparent and effective control and regulatory mechanisms” exist.
In the interview, Keith said outright that he wants to bypass such a system. He considers the input of Africa and South America, and much of Europe and Asia as unnecessary in order to move forward with a geoengineering scheme. It would be enough, he told Enright, to gain the agreement of a small but powerful “countries with democratic institutions,” citing China as an example, along with the US and the European Union. David Keith has been recognized for his achievements in applied physics, but when it comes to political science, it may be time for him to hit the books.
Jim Thomas is a Research Programme Manager and Writer at ETC Group.
What guarantee can you make that the reflective material deployed in the atmosphere will dissipate before nightfall? Clouds at night time add a good 10°C to the surface temperature.
Maybe it's best to keep as many chemicals as possible out of the atmosphere. There is still the question of where the material goes after it's sprayed.
Geoengineering should have public support before it's implemented. Experimentation should stop.
I have no trust in anything David Keith has to say about Chemtrails or geoengineering. This is a link to a speech he made which comes up at around the 7 min mark. I can’t believe this man has any credible influence. You be the judge.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xCEptksWFs
People must be called on this pushing of chemical sprayings on the world. So many people aren’t aware. Until February of 2014 I looked into the sky where I live and thought I was seeing jets. Now I sit in front of my home and video the much larger jets than Air Force jets spraying their chemicals. I watch them change form and finally color. My son died of cancer, diagnosed at 15 and dead at 20. He had been sprayed most of his life. Make people aware!
Really glad they read your reply!!!! It has been happening for a very long time and must be opened up and discussed BUT IT TOTALITY !!
I wrote an email to CBC about David Keith’s interview. I said that I was confused as to why Keith was acting as though the geoengineering was in the planning stage only, when it has been going on for years. I also asked them to give equal airtime to opponents of chemtrails as there are lots out there. I asked them to expose fully what was going on and how the chemtrails were poisoning our skies. They read my email live on CBC radio today, but left some parts of the letter out. at least they gave my main viewpoint out to the public.
Thanks for the article and link Dane. I heard David Keiths interview last Sunday and I sent CBC an email right afterwards. I asked if they could give equal airtime to an opponent of geoengineering as there are lots out there. I also stated I was confused as to why Keith was acting like it was only at the research stage. I wrote that chemtrail spraying has been going on for years now and there was volumnes of info on it and anyone who did research on it would know this. I also ask them to expose this fully to the public.
Quess what, they read certain portions of my letter live on CBC radio this am, and I was quite happy that at least they recognized my viewpoint. They left out the part about David Keiths confusion thou, I wonder why????
My sister and her husband who live in FL came to visit
us.Her husband’s son is a colonel in the US airforce .I
pointed out all the chemtrails in the sky.I asked him to
ask his son if he was aware of geoengineering.
Day 4 in Cocoa Beach,we saw many trails this morning and I saw 3 aircraft laying trails.The sky was a hazy
blue with manufactured clouds.
Thank you, Jim Thomas, for laying out all of Keith’s financial interests, obviously they are the reason he keeps peddling the party line so monotonously. The parallels to the ongoing coverup at Fukushima are clear as the smeary brown halo around the sun. Big moneylust has bought their souls. Nicola Tesla is rolling in his grave, I’ll bet. For some musical relief, try this: http://youtu.be/T-ql9dQ-Nx8
I did send an e-mail to the CBC show and ask for a more balanced approach! I hope a lot of people do the same! we all have to speak up before insane people are the only ones with a voice!
Well said gingercake5.
These people are insane, arrogant, stupid and need to be stopped in their tracks before it’s too late.
For those who have not heard the interview you can find it here
http://www.cbc.ca/thesundayedition/
I encourage everyone to write to Michael Enright to thank him for getting the topic of Geoengineering out to the public, but that the public needs to know that SRM is already happening on a massive scale worldwide. Please ask him to present a balanced view point by interviewing Dane and weatherman Scott Stevens.
http://www.cbc.ca/thesundayedition/contact/
I just find all of this so disturbing and just frankly insane . I do all I can to spread the word and cannot believe how dumbed down and in denial the American public has become . I grieve over the state of our beautiful planet and wonder how much longer we have till its too late .. Perhaps it is already too late..
This is the most critical issue facing our planet !! We must never give up!! I visualize every day what I want to be a reality here .. clean air,water and lands and people helping each other. God bless everyone who is awake and aware and may everyone wake up and join in !!
Dane,I would like to thank you for having JFK’s speech
on your web site.It should be heard by all, because it resonates like a prayer.
Day three on cocoa beach at 0900 saw a few trails and
an aircraft laying a long trail.The sky is a mix of hazy
blue and clouds.
Dane,I would like to thank you for having JFK’s speech
on your web site.It resonates like a prayer.I wish more people would hear it,especially high school students.
Day 3 on cocoa beach at 0900saw few trails and an
aircraft laying down a trail.Today we had a mixture of
blue haze and clouds.
Knowledge is to be forewarned .. Correction
History has always had evil men throughout the ages … Men who will stoop at nothing to manipulate .. For a cause … This is yet another … As I continue reading the nature of this assault on humanity and all living creatures on this planet .. Our home … I recall one name above them all .. Hitler … The one difference being .. The scale of the project is further reaching now .. It encompasses the whole earth .. It’s beyond comprehension … Thankyou ..for raising awareness … Knowledge is forewarned …
thank you Dane. I did hear that interview..just about as umm..indoctrinating as the one from Monsanto several months ago.
He actually is still saying they aren’t spraying..unbelievable..no change of his script for at least 15 years.
thanks for the background info..I knew about Gates..but not the tar sands connection.
Be nice to have an audio of this for people..great response re this shill.
What an arrogant SOB David Keith is! Saying that he does not “need” (care about) input from Africa, South America, Europe, Asia, etc.
Many thanks to you, Dane, and to all at Geo.watch.org for posting this important article! You are a real, lush oasis in the sizzling desert that is mainstream media.
Their cavalier discussion of this subject was disturbing.Their hubris Knows no bounds.We have these
guys and the impossible to wake up people.All we can do is try.
Second day at cocoa beach,we went out at 0900 for a walk.We saw at least 20 chemtrails already laid out and
3 aircraft laying more.They seem to do this in the morning to give cloud cover in the afternoon.