Against ETC’s Credibility on Geoengineering

Stoat points out an article on the Geoengineering Politics site which trusts neither ETC nor the Guardian’s reporting on geoengineering. But it doesn’t trust the guy who did the deed either.

The prime source of information for this story appears to have been the ETC Group, which is unapologetic in its opposition to all forms of geoengineering.  The ETC Group is present at COP11 and has even released its own program of action for the meeting (see ETC Group Lays Out Wish List for CBD COP11, 10/10).  The publication of this story was clearly timed to advance the group’s stated goals in Hyderabad by attempting to associate any geoengineering research with the questionable past and present activities of Russ George.

George has his own agenda too, although its content remains fuzzy.  In abriefing attributed to HSRC, the project is described solely in terms of salmon restoration, with no mention of carbon sequestration or offset credits.  But George’s checkered past cannot be overlooked, and there is justified suspicion that these experiments are nothing more than OIF repackaged as fish restoration, purportedly intended to revitalize the cultural and economic life of an indigenous people.  Just as the Guardian has forfeited any assumption of reliability when it comes to geoengineering, Russ George’s earlier Planktos antics make any current claims of ethical, responsible behavior impossible to accept at face value.

It does all seem pretty murky at present. I hope some diligent journalist, perhaps at the CBC, looks into it.