Thank you to:

ETC Group                                   http://www.etcgroup.org/
Institute of Science in Society     http://www.i-sis.org.uk/index.php 
Helena Paul of Econexus            http://www.econexus.info/publication/agriculture-and-climate-change-real-problems-false-solutions
For more information:
Helena Paul, Econexus in London: cell: + 44 (0)7724 711183
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Diana Bronson, in Montreal: +1 514 629 9236
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No Spice In Our Skies, Say Environmental Justice Groups

The SPICE project (Stratospheric Particle Injection for Climate Engineering) involves four universities, three research councils, several government departments along with private company Marshall Aerospace.  The experiment, which involves spraying water from a kilometre-long hose suspended by a giant balloon, is scheduled to take place on a disused military airstrip in Sculthorpe, in Norfolk, UK between October 6 and 23rd.  

Groups objecting to the test say it will send the wrong signal to the international community, which adopted a moratorium on geoengineering activities last October at the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in Nagoya, Japan.


There are many reasons why this experiment should not be allowed to proceed:

 1.    There has been no decision to go forward with “solar radiation management” and therefore there is no need to test the hardware designed to implement it.

 2.    The Convention on Biological Diversity adopted a moratorium on geoengineering activities last year in Nagoya, Japan and this experiment goes against the spirit, if not the letter, of that decision. 

3.     There has been no transparency on the part of the researchers involved as shown by their failure to disclose the location, timing or the basic scientific background on the test. 

 4.    While it may seem innocuous to shoot seawater through a hose, the plan is to be able to deliver an estimated 10 million tonnes of aerosols to the stratosphere – 20 kilometers above Earth.  This experiment is only phase one of a much bigger plan that could have devastating consequences including large changes in weather patterns such as deadly droughts. 

"Over 50 concerned groups from around the world are calling on people to sign an open letter asking the UK Government and Research Councils to scrap the controversial SPICE experiment designed to test hardware for deployment of stratospheric aerosol injections as a way to artificially cool the planet. The SPICE project (Stratospheric Particle Injection for Climate Engineering) involves four universities, three research councils, several government departments along with private company Marshall Aerospace.

Groups signing the letter to Environment Minister Chris Huhne and the UK Research Councils hope it will gather enough support before the test to get authorities to reconsider allowing the controversial experiment to go ahead.  The experiment, which involves spraying water from a kilometre-long hose suspended by a giant balloon, is scheduled to take place on a disused military airstrip in Sculthorpe, in Norfolk, UK between October 6 and 23rd.  Groups objecting to the test say it will send the wrong signal to the international community, which adopted a moratorium on geoengineering activities last October at the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in Nagoya, Japan.  

 “On the one hand, our government is involved in negotiations around geoengineering and biodiversity by funding, chairing and actively participating in discussions at the CBD.  On the other hand, it is preparing the hardware for deployment of a potentially very dangerous geoengineering technology. Such tests should certainly not be allowed to proceed before there is an international decision to go down that path,” says Helena Paul of Econexus, one the NGOs involved in the CBD talks and in the open letter.

Diana Bronson of ETC Group, an international technology watchdog says: “This is a Trojan Hose -- our objection is not that they want to spray water but that they are preparing the technology that can shoot sulfates into the stratosphere to try to block sunlight from reaching the earth.  This so-called Solar Radiation Management could have devastating consequences  -- altering precipitation patterns, threatening food supplies and public health, destroying ozone and diminishing the effectiveness of solar power, in addition to many other known and unknown impacts.”

Organizers invite people opposed to carrying out geoengineering field trials in the absence of international agreement to signal their opposition here: www.handsoffmotherearth.org"

http://www.handsoffmotherearth.org/2011/09/press-release-no-spice-in-our-skies-say-environmental-justice-groups/

SPICE Opposition letter: http://www.handsoffmotherearth.org/hose-experiment/spice-opposition-letter/

Mr. Chris Huhne, MP
Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change
Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC)
3 Whitehall PlaceLondon, UK
SW1A 2AW

RE: The Stratospheric Particle Injection for Climate Engineering (SPICE) project

Dear Secretary of State Huhne,

We are writing to express our concern about the SPICE research project, which is managed by the University of Bristol in collaboration with the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge and Edinburgh, as well as military contractor Marshall Aerospace. The  £1.6 million project has been funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), supported by the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC). We are calling upon the UK government and the Research Councils involved to suspend the project. In particular, we believe the experiment planned to test equipment for injecting particles into the stratosphere with the aim of counteracting global warming through solar radiation management (SRM) should be cancelled.

This experiment could prove disruptive to international discussions on geoengineering ongoing at the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) following the decision of the 10th Conference of the Parties in Nagoya, Japan less than one year ago. (COP 10 Decision X/33 can be found here: http://www.cbd.int/decision/cop/?id=12299 (paragraph 8w).) It is unacceptable for the UK government to sponsor – even chair – discussions at the CBD while simultaneously funding experiments and developing hardware for the deployment of stratospheric aerosols, one of the most controversial geoengineering technologies under discussion. This apparent conflict of interest will undermine the credibility of the UK, not only at the CBD, but also in other climate-related negotiations, notably at the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20).

While the CBD decision does allow for small-scale experiments that meet certain conditions, it is unlikely the SPICE project meets the criteria as it cannot take place in a “controlled setting” (since the hose reaches one kilometer into the sky and is intended as a model for an apparatus that will be twenty times longer). The test cannot be justified by the need to gather specific scientific data (but is rather designed to test equipment). While the test would use water rather than particulates, its sole purpose is to engineer the hardware that would later allow chemicals to be injected into the stratosphere to reflect sunlight. To respect both the letter and the spirit of the CBD’s decision, and the follow-up consultations currently underway, the UK government and the research councils should confirm that they will not grant permission for, or fund, any other field trials of SRM equipment in the absence of an international consensus.

We believe that such research is a dangerous distraction from the real need: immediate and deep emissions cuts. Some of the global political and ecological dangers of stratospheric aerosol injection have been identified through modeling studies and examination of the impacts of sulphuric dust emitted by volcanoes. Those impacts include the potential for further damage to the ozone layer, disruption of rainfall, particularly in tropical and subtropical regions, and potentially threatening the food supplies of billions of people. Furthermore, emergent SRM technologies will leave high levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, worsen ocean acidification and condemn future generations to continue a high-risk, planetary-scale technological intervention that is also likely to increase the risk of climate-related international conflict. The involvement of organizations and/or corporations associated with the military – as is Marshall Aerospace – increases that risk.

If this experiment is allowed to go ahead, many governments of the global South and many civil society organizations will conclude that the UK is not negotiating in good faith to reduce emissions, but is instead preparing to proceed down an alternative, very high-risk technological path. We hope you will make clear that is not the case.

 Yours sincerely

Geoengineering Resources AND Petiton - http://www.handsoffmotherearth.org/hose-experiment/stop-spice-experiment-org/

    20 Reasons Geo-Engineering May Be a Bad Idea (pdf)
    Corporate Watch report on Technofixes
    Geopiracy: The Case Against Geoengineering (pdf)
    H.O.M.E. Briefing Flyer en Espanol (pdf)
    H.O.M.E. Briefing Flyer en Français (pdf)
    H.O.M.E. Briefing Flyer in English (pdf)
    Rising Tide report on False Solutions
    The Return Dr. Strangelove: the politics of geo-engineering by Clive Hamilton (pdf)

Corporate Watch

"This report investigates the large scale technologies that corporations and governments are putting on the table, including hydrogen, carbon capture and storage, agrofuels, electricity from nuclear, solar and wind, as well as a range of ideas to reflect the sun’s energy or remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

It finds what works, what doesn’t, the present state of these industries and where they’re heading. It explains why, even though many of the technologies do work, the corporate-capitalist model cannot deploy them effectively, and it goes in search of more realistic and socially just solutions."

http://www.corporatewatch.org.uk/?lid=3126


Institute of Science in Society

http://www.i-sis.org.uk/Skyhook_to_save_the_climate.php

ISIS Report 26/09/11
Skyhook to Save the Climate?
Geoengineering, like banking, can affect the whole world, and again like banking, has no international regulation, which is urgently needed. Prof. Peter Saunders

Why we need an enforceable international agreement

CONCLUSION Institute of Science in Society

"The justification for research into geoengineering is that we can’t wait until we need it because by then it will be too late. But we must not allow it to divert resources from research into energy conservation, the replacement of fossil fuels by renewables and other conventional technologies. We must not use it as an excuse for failing to tackle the problem of climate change by all the means we already have. And we must not run the risk of doing even worse damage to the planet because someone goes ahead with a project without seeking and heeding the best available advice."

http://www.i-sis.org.uk/Skyhook_to_save_the_climate.php