Debunked: Holdren admits Obama Administration is performing Geoengineering

Mick West

Administrator
Staff member
John Holdren, Obama's science advisor since 2009 was interviewed by the AP about geoengineer.



He very clearly in the interview stated that he though that his personal opinion was that geoengineering should be kept on the table, and should be researched, in case it needs to be used in the future.

He said nothing about what was currently being done.

This unfortunately lead to some ridiculous tabloid headlines, like the Daily Mail' hysterical: "Obama may fire pollution particles into stratosphere to deflect sun's heat in desperate bid to tackle global warming!!!!"

This prompted Holdren to issue a clarification:
http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/shortsharpscience/2009/04/holdren-clarifies-the-white-ho.html
http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/04/09/science-adviser-lists-goals-on-climate-energy/

I said that the approaches that have been surfaced so far seem problematic in terms of both efficacy and side effects, but we have to look at the possibilities and understand them because if we get desperate enough it will be considered. I also made clear that this was my personal view, not Administration policy. Asked whether I had mentioned geo-engineering in any White House discussions, though, I said that I had. This is NOT the same thing as saying the White House is giving serious consideration to geo-engineering – which it isn’t — and I am disappointed that the headline and the text of the article suggest otherwise.

So the bottom line is that it was Holdren's personal opinion, he was talking about the future, and there is "no serious consideration" for geoengineering from the current administration.
 
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