Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Hands Off Mother Earth! Online Campaign Against Geoengineering Launches by Kimberley D. Mok, Montreal, Canada on 04.27.10 Take Action

No matter how you cut it, geoengineering is a mind-boggling proposition, and most scientists are saying it should only be used as a last-ditch resort, rather than as a delay tactic to hold off real climate change action. Geoengineering really needs more research, as preliminary tests at fertilizing the ocean with iron are showing that large-scale geoengineering could have unpredictable results.

But last week, over 60 international civil society groups at Cochabamba's alternative climate summit lent their collective voices in a grassroots campaign to unanimously oppose geoengineering and are urging the public to join with Hands Off Mother Earth (H.O.M.E.) by "lending a hand" in their photo petition.

With support from environmental and social justice luminaries like David Suzuki, Vandana Shiva, Maude Barlow, Naomi Klein, Herman Daly and Frances Moore-Lappé, the petition hopes to raise more public awareness about the issue prior to the next climate change convention slated for December.

From H.O.M.E.'s press release:

The site features a public portrait gallery of individuals with open palms calling a halt to geoengineering. This gallery is expected to swell as the focus of the campaign moves from Cochabamba this week to upcoming UN talks culminating in the next meeting of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Cancun Mexico in December. A facebook group for the H.O.M.E. campaign has also been launched.

Pat Mooney, Executive Director of ETC Group, explained at the campaign launch why citizens should be concerned about geoengineering:

We do not need to test geoengineering because we know that it is a fundamentally unjust technology. Could you imagine, in your wildest dreams, that the governments who have spent decades denying or avoiding climate change; who have failed to meet even the minimal requirements of the Kyoto Accord; who lack the courage to tell their societies to change their lifestyles; have either the integrity or the intellect to manipulate the oceans or the stratosphere in any way that could be either environmentally-effective or socially-equitable for the world? Should their hand be on the global thermostat?

You can find more information and put up your hand to say 'Halt!' to geoengineering by visiting the photo petition at the Hands Off Mother Earth website, or via Facebook and Twitter @HandsOffMotherE.

More on Geoengineering
Geoengineering to Stop Climate Change: The Effective, the Risky and the Useless Outlined in New Research Paper
Geoengineering Risk Potential Not An Excuse for Inaction, Scientist Says
Does Geoengineering Need a Dose of Geo-Ethics?
Iron Fertilization Experiment Proves Geo-engineering Unpredictable
7 Geoengineering Solutions That Promise To Save Humans from Climate Change