Confronting the ‘futuristic’ branding of geoengineering

Rady Ananda, Contributing Writer
Activist Post

Lately, we’ve seen a massive marketing make-over of environmental modification (ENMOD) programs. What has been a clandestine and hostile military application now is promoted as a “futuristic” solution to corporate pollution.  Debunking mass media’s mischaracterization of geoengineering as “futuristic” is in order.  Below we take a closer look at those organizations planting such disinformation and offer sources on the harmful effects of geoengineering.

Here is a sampling of quotes from mainstream media on the use of geoengineering:

NYTimes in 2006: “In the past few decades, a handful of scientists have come up with big, futuristic ways to fight global warming…. Their proposals were relegated to the fringes of climate science.”

AP: “Crutzen, who wrote a 2006 scientific article that sparked interest in geoengineering…”

Slate Magazine, Sept. 23, 2010: “Global climate engineering is untested and untestable…. the discipline does not yet exist; it is at best geoscientific speculation.”

James Cascio (author of Hacking the Earth: Understanding the Consequences of Geoengineering) on October 15, 2010: “It does not yet appear that anyone has started to develop actual geoengineering tools…”

Reuters: “None of this … will go forward without ample opportunity for the public to comment.”

Freakonomics: “… a ‘Future Tense Event’ called, Geoengineering: The Horrifying Idea Whose Time Has Come…”

NYTimes Nov. 2010 “…novel approaches to limiting global warming.”

In addition to mass media, environmental organizations also promote the idea that geoengineering is brand new.

In a companion piece, “UN Climate Concern Morphs into Chemtrail Glee Club,” Cassandra Anderson was recognized for recently noting that environmental watchdog and geoengineering opponent, ETC Group, is partly funded by the Ford Foundation, which she characterizes as being “known for supporting depopulation.”

Not only has ETC adamantly opposed geoengineering, but also genetic engineering, both suspected depopulation tools.  ETC does subscribe to anthropogenic global warming, and believes that geoengineering is being used to halt legislation or treaties that would reduce greenhouse gas emissions.  In its 56-page report, “Geopiracy: The Case Against Geoengineering,” ETC warns (p.18):

Whether or not AGW is real, under a geoengineering scheme, corporate polluters can continue polluting. And this is precisely where climate change skeptics are being led, ETC warns. One high profile climate skeptic, Julian Morris of the International Policy Network, told the BBC in 2008:

Of course, more than two options exist. A third might be imposing a ban on all ecocidal activities.  But, those who oppose both geoengineering and genetic engineering do need to remain wary of any group that supports environmentally destructive practices – including the business-as-usual corporate exploitation of the planet.

To its discredit, ETC denies the existence of current ENMOD programs (p.42):

Yet, we have the UN World Meteorological Organization saying in a 2007 position Statement on Weather Modification (p.4):

And, of course, we have numerous books, films, websites and articles from citizens and experts documenting the existence of such programs.

ETC also absurdly states (p. 41) that:

Global repugnance over genetically modified foods hasn’t hampered investment in or expansion of the biotech industry.  Increasing cancer rates, environmental degradation and public condemnation hasn’t slowed the chemical industry. That statement seems to be thrown in to support the idea that no one is currently engaged in geoengineering.  It’s so bizarre, in fact, that ETC contradicts itself in that same report (a page earlier), with a statement that makes sense:

Also, researchers have uncovered patents held by the US military, as well as huge defense contractors like Hughes Aircraft and Raytheon (which later absorbed Hughes).  Somehow, they do not perceive that a ‘public relations liability’ is at issue when enormous profits or military dominance are at stake.
As stated in Chemtrail Glee Club:

Whether ETC Group is one ‘voice of controlled opposition’ or merely has a blind spot when it comes to the extensive history of ENMOD is unknown. Much of what they publish is useful information.  Some of it is contradictory, and the notion that we’re not currently being chemtrailed is outright absurd.

I wouldn’t throw the baby out with the bath water, though. It’s likely that a wealth of accurate information can be found in Cascio’s book, Hacking the Earth, even though he also denies that the “tools” exist.

What is obvious is that a major perception management scheme is underway across the political spectrum from climate change skeptics to AGW devotees. Instead of framing ENMOD as a military attack, we’re now discussing it in terms of climate change — a sticking point among populists, some who buy into it and some who don’t.

Over a Century of Cloud Seeding

Though governments, mass media and dubiously-funded organizations still portray geoengineering as futuristic, a wealth of evidence exists that governments and private entities have engaged in the practice for over a century. See, e.g., the sources listed in my July 2010 piece, Atmospheric Geoengineering: Weather Manipulation, Contrails and Chemtrails.

One historian cited, James Fleming, traced military funding of weather modification experiments back to the 1840s. That’s 170 years ago. Small scale rainmaking was successful enough that in 1915, the city of San Diego offered Charles Hatfield an outrageous sum of $10,000 to end their drought. He did, to disastrous effect.

Fleming discounts the ENMOD programs developed during and after World War II, as if technology leapt backwards for several decades until 2003, which is the date he gives to the latest phase of weather modification.  He wants us to ignore computers, and all the other advances in science that impact on weather.  But, beginning with and immediately following WWII, that is where the bulk of evidence for geoengineering exists, continuing (as reported by mainstream media) for the next 35 years until the UN banned hostile ENMOD programs in 1976.

Then, we have a relative media blackout on the issue until the new millennium. Chemtrail citing increases exponentially after 2000, which coincides with the timeline suggested in a US Dept. of Defense report entitled, “Weather as a Force Multiplier: Owning the Weather in 2025” (reproduced at Federation of American Scientists):

‘Carbon black dust’ may be the topic of this 2007 observation in the Gulf Coast of Florida. A vacationer noticed “black beams” in the sky and snapped several photos, describing the behavior of the beam. Here’s one photo:

Carbon black dust? Gulf Coast, Florida (2007)

This next image also shows what may be ‘carbon black dust’ but its date and location are not given (from Glenn Boyle’s Strange Days Strange Skies):

According to “Owning the Weather,” carbon black dust is deployed via jet over large bodies of water “upwind from coastlines with onshore flow” to “enhance rainfall on the mesoscale, generate cirrus clouds, and enhance cumulonimbus (thunderstorm) clouds.” The supporting study cited is from 1976.

Sources on Health Effects of Geoengineering
The environmental and health effects induced by geoengineering remain of grave concern.  Numerous researchers have sounded the alarm, including Dr. Ilya Sandra Perlingieri, author of The Uterine Crisis.  In Heavy Metals Poisoning, Brain Injury, and Clandestine Weather Modification Programs, she cites several qualified researchers. She also reports that:

Carnicom is probably best known for his 2005 film, Aerosol Crimes (101 mins.). More recent films on the topic include What in the World Are They Spraying, by G. Edward Griffin, et al. (2010, 98 mins); and Don’t Talk About the Weather, by Ill Eagle Films, et al. (2008, 243 mins).

Various researchers recommend the following books:

Angels Don’t Play This HAARP: Advances in Tesla Technology, by Dr. Nick Begich and Jeane Manning (Earthpulse Press: 1995, 224 p.)
Death in the Air: Globalism, Terrorism & Toxic Warfare, by Leonard Horowitz (Healthy World Distribution: 2001, 526 p.)
Weather Warfare: The Military’s Plan to Draft Mother Nature, by Jerry E. Smith (Adventures Unlimited Press: 2006, 402 p.)