AP
John Holdren told The Associated Press in his first interview since being confirmed last month that the idea of geoengineering the climate is being discussed. One such extreme option includes shooting pollution particles into the upper atmosphere to reflect the sun’s rays. Holdren said such an experimental measure would only be used as a last resort.
“It’s got to be looked at,” he said. “We don’t have the luxury of taking any approach off the table.”…
Twice in a half-hour interview, Holdren compared global warming to being “in a car with bad brakes driving toward a cliff in the fog.”
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FIFY. For accuracy.
lorien1973 on April 8, 2009 at 12:37 PM
Beat me to it, lorien…
Vashta.Nerada on April 8, 2009 at 12:37 PM
How about removing scrubbers from coal plants, or backing off on the clean air act? Oh, never mind, those are reductions in government…..
Vashta.Nerada on April 8, 2009 at 12:38 PM
But Beck is a kook, right?
marklmail on April 8, 2009 at 12:39 PM
Not bad enough that Obama plans to be the last elected president of the United States, he’s now determined to take the entire human race down with him.
johnsteele on April 8, 2009 at 12:40 PM
Beat me to it!
ctmom on April 8, 2009 at 12:41 PM
I intend to invest in parkas now.
rbj on April 8, 2009 at 12:42 PM
All in.
the_nile on April 8, 2009 at 12:43 PM
Wanna hear God laugh?
Tell him your plans.
cntrlfrk on April 8, 2009 at 12:43 PM
To be fair, he’s saying shooting pollution into the upper atmosphere. Coal plant emissions only reach the lower atmosphere, at best – where (if you believe it) they trap heat. In the upper, it’d reflect heat back out.
Under the same principle as clouds, I suppose.
This is stupid though. The sun is as inactive as it’s been in 50 years or something. We ain’t warming up.
It presumes a fix without a real problem.
lorien1973 on April 8, 2009 at 12:44 PM
Ever heard of Kudzu? Good for erosion, they said.
faraway on April 8, 2009 at 12:44 PM
From solarcycle24.com
I wish one of these idiots would take into account this object in the sky we call the Sun. I heard it was pretty big and produced a lot of energy. So big, that it may impact our climate. /sarc
WashJeff on April 8, 2009 at 12:44 PM
This is important:
Will this help or hurt the ability of government to send mind control rays into my brain?
lorien1973 on April 8, 2009 at 12:44 PM
Reminds me of those bad sci fi channel movies.
sonofdy on April 8, 2009 at 12:45 PM
Bingo.
Vashta.Nerada on April 8, 2009 at 12:46 PM
Not a good idea to attempt control of a complex system when your computer models of that system are seriously flawed.
Man-caused
disasterice age, anyone? We’re due for one anyway.ZenDraken on April 8, 2009 at 12:46 PM
What a nut job.
Firebird on April 8, 2009 at 12:47 PM
dmann on April 8, 2009 at 12:47 PM
You beat me to it. It seems every time man introduces a new plant, insect, or animal into a region to solve a problem, it just creates new problems. I’m afraid this hairbrained scheme will do the same.
txsurveyor on April 8, 2009 at 12:48 PM
I remember this one sci fi movie where the only way to save the planet was to fly a paper stealth bomber into a swarn of nanomachines and detonate a EMP. Of course it had to be crewed by a ditzy blonde reporter, a hansome rugged scientist who had enemies in the whitehouse, and a 3 star general.
VA-LA the whitehouse air cooling scheme.
sonofdy on April 8, 2009 at 12:49 PM
Now we have Holdren and Kumar Solve Global Warming. So many good movie scripts to come.
WashJeff on April 8, 2009 at 12:49 PM
Someone has obviously been watching too much “General Hospital“…
Rae on April 8, 2009 at 12:51 PM
Couldn’t Obambi the messiah just order the earth to cool it??
poxoma on April 8, 2009 at 12:51 PM
Sad part is, liberals forget there is a steering wheel.
cntrlfrk on April 8, 2009 at 12:53 PM
Ra is not welcome in the Church of Global Warming.
Rae on April 8, 2009 at 12:53 PM
Clearly you do not understand politico-physics, the science of getting grant money for non-existent problems. The Sun only impacts the Earth when talking about using it for solar-generated power because it pours so much energy onto the Earth. Otherwise it does nothing but sit there in the sky looking really, really bright.
johnsteele on April 8, 2009 at 12:53 PM
Let’s see how the MSM covers this. This HAS to undermine the credibility of the Pelosi, Obama and the wackos.
marklmail on April 8, 2009 at 12:55 PM
And they say Glenn Beck is apocalyptic. What a bunch of psychos. These people need medication.
CP on April 8, 2009 at 12:55 PM
The other thing we could do is to:
Steal a goat on a full moon…take the goat out to the forest, and we dress in animal skins, woman’s dress is optional.
We need: Wine, rope, sharp knife, wine, women, drums, wine, logs to sit on, stump to place goat on, wine, full moon, wine…
I think this will be just as effective, and lot more fun…
right2bright on April 8, 2009 at 12:55 PM
Are you kidding? This is simply brilliant thinking by the all-knowing, all-seeing Obama administration, saviors of America and saviors of the entire human race.
Seig Heil, Seig HeilAll Hail Obama, All Hail Obama.johnsteele on April 8, 2009 at 12:57 PM
That’s pretty funny…good one.
right2bright on April 8, 2009 at 12:58 PM
Yup. And if we crossbreed some african bees with our european ones, they’ll probably make more honey!
Farmer_Joe on April 8, 2009 at 1:02 PM
Sending particles out into the atmosphere to block the Sun? What could go wrong?
“Mommy, what did the sun used to look like?”
portlandon on April 8, 2009 at 1:03 PM
yes, the folks at DARPA are known wackos.
sesquipedalian on April 8, 2009 at 1:03 PM
Strange Brew reference?
“The brakes are out! No point in steering now.”
zmdavid on April 8, 2009 at 1:04 PM
The MSM won’t cover this. They didn’t bother to tell us about this Holdren crazy man, so they won’t bother to talk about this.
This is who Obama’s science advisor really is.
From the article:
What none has yet noted is that Holdren is a globalist who has endorsed “surrender of sovereignty” to “a comprehensive Planetary Regime” that would control all the world’s resources, direct global redistribution of wealth, oversee the “de-development” of the West, control a World Army and taxation regime, and enforce world population limits. He has castigated the United States as “the meanest of wealthy countries,” written a justification of compulsory abortion for American women, advocated drastically lowering the U.S. standard of living, and left the door open to trying global warming “deniers” for crimes against humanity. Such is Barack Obama’s idea of a clear-headed adviser on matters of scientific policy.
JAM on April 8, 2009 at 1:05 PM
Obama – “Now that i’m done with the Auto Industry…”
Firebird on April 8, 2009 at 1:07 PM
Isn’t that a tacit admission that the sun creates warming?
Are they also going to pollute the other warming planets?
oldernwiser on April 8, 2009 at 1:10 PM
Obama/Leftist Logic
“We MIGHT be causing small changes in the climate. Let’s destroy our economy to fix a problem that might not exist. Oh, and let’s defund our missile defense systems while rogue nations are acquiring ICBM capabilities.”
But he’s not a naive ideologue! No sir!
TheUnrepentantGeek on April 8, 2009 at 1:10 PM
Politico-mechanics, if you will. Physics is its own discipline, mechanics or sometimes dynamics is what you use to describe the workings of a subject.
Count to 10 on April 8, 2009 at 1:11 PM
I’m pretty sure that even if the alarmists are right on the science, their idea of a cure will result in more death.
zmdavid on April 8, 2009 at 1:12 PM
It doesn’t matter, they don’t have polar bears.
zmdavid on April 8, 2009 at 1:14 PM
On the other hand, theoretically, there will eventually be another ice age, and it might be handy to have, say, large mirrors in orbit to redirect a bit of sunlight planet side to counter it — though there are probably a number of side effects to that, too.
Count to 10 on April 8, 2009 at 1:15 PM
Someone just got spanked…ouch!
right2bright on April 8, 2009 at 1:16 PM
Are you kidding me? Thanks for the link, this guy is scary crazy…this is who Obama has picked to advise him. Take note all you liberal trolls, read the link.
right2bright on April 8, 2009 at 1:20 PM
http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/SolarCycle/
Here’s another good one showing how incredibly quiet the sun has been for the last few years.
Check the bottom plot. (Ap has something to do with the magnetic field strength from the sun. Saw the exact definition a few years ago, but don’t remember it.)
Notice the big drop in strength near the end of 2005.
The magenetic field is what protects us from cosmic rays. Cosmic rays help to promote cloud formation.
Weaker sun.
More cosmic rays.
More clouds.
Cooler planet.
2005 is also the year the oceans stopped warming and started cooling.
In other news, the previous 3 or 4 solar cycles were amongst the strongest in the last millenia years.
MarkTheGreat on April 8, 2009 at 1:25 PM
What none has yet noted is that Holdren is a globalist who has endorsed “surrender of sovereignty” to “a comprehensive Planetary Regime” that would control all the world’s resources, direct global redistribution of wealth, oversee the “de-development” of the West, control a World Army and taxation regime, and enforce world population limits. He has castigated the United States as “the meanest of wealthy countries,” written a justification of compulsory abortion for American women, advocated drastically lowering the U.S. standard of living, and left the door open to trying global warming “deniers” for crimes against humanity. Such is Barack Obama’s idea of a clear-headed adviser on matters of scientific policy.
JAM on April 8, 2009 at 1:05 PM
marklmail on April 8, 2009 at 1:29 PM
right2bright on April 8, 2009 at 1:20 PM
And yet he was confirmed by the Senate. How curious? This just gets more Twilight Zone-ish everyday.
JAM on April 8, 2009 at 1:29 PM
Meanwhile we may get snow up here in the (still) frozen North… I WANT some global warming.
What a freaking farce. We need Gilbert & Sullivan to write a global warming musical. Maybe call it Pirates and Pinheads or something….
dogsoldier on April 8, 2009 at 1:33 PM
If I’m reading this right, he’s talking about making artificial clouds or volcano dust, based on a model that can’t manage clouds or volcano dust. Maybe if he spent his time developing a model that could handle clouds and volcanoes, AGW would “miraculously” disappear– from the models.
obladioblada on April 8, 2009 at 1:34 PM
We could just wait for the next big volcano.
Redoubt in Alaska and Checien in Chile are both lining up for the honor of being the first big volcanic explosion since Pinatubo in 1981 (or thereabouts)
The last 30 years has been abnormally quiet in terms of big volcanic eruptions.
MarkTheGreat on April 8, 2009 at 1:34 PM
Obama=Rainman…..
Just lovely, that.
AW1 Tim on April 8, 2009 at 1:43 PM
So if Obama is trupeting “man-made cooling”, by spewing pollution particles into the air, what’s to keep us from burning more fossile fuels? We should be drilling the heck out of the “oil fields”. Why worry about the size of cars and how much pollution they produce? More pollution=cooler temperatures, right?
PappaMac on April 8, 2009 at 1:43 PM
I’m pretty sure I saw this movie.
Spoiler alert: when the Pierce Brosnan character tells the Obama administration that this is a really, really bad idea … nobody will listen.
But don’t sweat it. Sure a few million folks get zilched. But in the end he’ll save the planet, get the hot chick, and the bad guys bite it spectacularly.
It’s like that one about the giant alligator in a lake. Only better.
Professor Blather on April 8, 2009 at 1:45 PM
If Obama is seeding clouds and cooling it down with rain, send him to Texas this August every week. And bring clouds.
Marcus on April 8, 2009 at 1:55 PM
reminds me of that simpsons episode where mr. burns plotted to blot out the sun.
Joe Caps on April 8, 2009 at 2:02 PM
So Obama is considering all kinds of untested exotic technologies to combat global warming, but he refuses to consider the proven solution of nuclear power.
The country is being run by a bunch of politically correct Luddites.
cool breeze on April 8, 2009 at 2:06 PM
I don’t know how much more proof people need to realize how dangerous these morons are. Unbelievable. They are quite insane and all need to be committed, at the very least.
progressoverpeace on April 8, 2009 at 2:13 PM
So Gore is going to start looking up when he talks?
LibTired on April 8, 2009 at 2:15 PM
Doesn’t it sound like something Ahmadinejad or the Chinese would be doing?
LibTired on April 8, 2009 at 2:15 PM
Pinatubo was 1993, IIRC. This is, without question, the stupidest and most apocalyptic idea to come out of the Obama Administration… in the last few minutes.
Beagle on April 8, 2009 at 2:19 PM
Whew, good thing we are not in any way in a car with bad brakes driving off a cliff.
And if these effing morons mess with the sun’s relationship with the earth, so many more will be killed much quicker than if Global Warming really did exist. But, I suppose that’s their ultimate plan anyway.
Grafted on April 8, 2009 at 2:42 PM
Bearing in mind that the supposed CO2 imbalance is the result of burning fossil fuels (i.e. former trees), could somebody who thinks they understand these matters please briefly explain to me (or provide a link) why the imbalance cannot be resolved by planting lots more trees to remove the CO2 and then using those trees for fuel as they get old.
My understanding is that trees are needed for lots of reasons, we have vast tracts of land that have no trees and that could be used for planting trees. To my ignorant mind, even persuading the deserts to yield trees (or other dense foliage) seems likely to be far simpler, cheaper and safer than these other proposals.
Thank you in advance.
YiZhangZhe on April 8, 2009 at 2:45 PM
If we had a space elevator this problem would be easy to solve.
DarkCurrent on April 8, 2009 at 2:51 PM
Nothing good will come of this…
Wouldn’t it be better just to waste the money on planting more trees in deforested areas around the world? At least that may do some good.
Mister Ghost on April 8, 2009 at 3:07 PM
The President’s Chicken Little Council on Atmospheric Modeling must create hysteria in order for people to get behind their lunacy. Fear is power. Never let a good “crisis” go to waste…
Wyznowski on April 8, 2009 at 3:16 PM
I have pointed to the evil Holdren previously here at Hot Air, and I wrote a blog post about him today where I call him ‘Obama’s Dr. Frankenstein’. His “Neo-Malthusian” views are unspeakably appalling.
Buy Danish on April 8, 2009 at 3:19 PM
Remember, Lord Sesqui, that argument from authority never works – unless you’re the authority.
As someone who’s done research on behalf of DARPA, yes, I can pretty much categorically state that a lot of the ideas that are started by the agency are just plain wacky. Which is why most of them never recieve funding beyond the initial preliminary stage. At least during my time working with them, it was pretty obvious that most PI’s saw the agency as a cash cow, to which they’d throw their most off-the-wall ideas (the ones that’d never pass muster with, say, NASA, the DoD branch-specific research teams, or the NSF), in order to expand the amount of grant money they’d bring in. This money was usually paid directly to a University department’s general research fund, thus increasing the likelihood of the PI being granted tenure – which is the end goal of most PIs.
Such policies lead to what I call the “ten-year disease,” in which every Next Big Thing requires basic research to understand raw fundamentals “from first principles” at a level that rarely impacts the macro effect (that is, your end goal), ad infinitum, so that every NBT will perpetually be ready “sometime within the next ten years.” That’s basically buzzword-bingo for “it’ll never happen unless maybe if you put our feet to the fire.” Which, in the end, is a large part of why I gave up on the research racket.
Blacksmith on April 8, 2009 at 3:21 PM
This is madness.
WisCon on April 8, 2009 at 3:25 PM
What I wanna know is who is gonna clean up the mess after it doesn’t work? Or better yet take the blame?
JimK on April 8, 2009 at 3:41 PM
It’s the Earth’s magnetic field that protects us from cosmic rays as well as much solar radiation. Solar radiation also helps protect us from cosmic radiation by blowing much of it away, so low solar minimums do expose us to more cosmic rays. Another fascinating aspect of cosmic rays is that there are regions of the space our solar system travels through that have lesser and greater densities of cosmic radiation, sufficient to change our climate in a manner that we can’t yet detect or predict; nevermind our own fluctuating magnetic field and currently low solar minimum which may set records in our history books and all the other variables that the haters of humanity ignore in order to gain extreme dictatorial control over the entire planet.
We truly are a Goldilocks planet with a balance that wavers a bit but is absolutely perfect for us to survive. But self-appointed Messiahs and Wizards will have nothing to do with rational science, it’s all about their power, and we could do some great damage to ourselves following their prescriptions.
This Holdren guy is one scary One-World Under-Me kind of guy…not hard to see why Zero likes him.
Maquis on April 8, 2009 at 3:48 PM
Next up: a machine that repositions the planets, the stars, the galaxies, the universe!
We must change the universe immediately to fit my whims or we are all dooooooooomed!
John the Libertarian on April 8, 2009 at 3:54 PM
Kind of like The Matrix, huh? That idea worked out pretty well in that fairy tale, too…
karl9000 on April 8, 2009 at 4:22 PM
Who unfroze that idiot? Will he go away for one MILLION dollars?
Feedie on April 8, 2009 at 5:03 PM