As Jim Treacher quipped on Twitter last month, that whole “‘Obama is a megalomaniac’ thing is such a ridiculous right-wing smear. By the way, now he wants to take over the weather.”
In the latest edition of Silicon Graffiti, (coming to you this week from Space Station V in geosynchronous orbit high above my garage in Northern California, the only place I could find high enough to avoid being buzzed by Air Force One), we’ll explore the proposal that John Holdren, the president’s new science advisor, put on the table last month.
As the AP wrote at the time:
The president’s new science adviser said Wednesday that global warming is so dire, the Obama administration is discussing radical technologies to cool Earth’s air.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.”
Indeed they’re not, and Holdren’s peculiar pollution particle plan is just one of several risky geoengineering schemes ideas that scientists are kicking around to stop global warming. Even though, As the London Telegraph noted at the end of last year, “2008 was the year when any pretence that there was a ‘scientific consensus’ in favour of man-made global warming collapsed.”
But then, as a Rasmussen poll noted last month, only 34 percent of American voters now believe that global warming is manmade, but 48 percent of the “Political Class”, as Rasmussen puts it, do.
Which may explain why Editor & Publisher, the house organ for the newspaper industry ran an essay in 2007 titled, “Climate Change: Get Over Objectivity, Newspapers.”
Of course, as they’re coverage of the 2008 presidential election reminds us, newspapers have gotten over objectivity on every issue under the sun.
So turn on your telescreen and enjoy six minutes or so of orbital insanity — which could very well be coming to your a galaxy near you, if President Obama’s science advisor has his way.
And for 30 or so previous editions of Silicon Graffiti, click here and keep scrolling.
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