I have no idea what Prince Andrew did or didn’t do, but why is there virtually complete MSM silence on all the other famous people who visited Epstein and his island? please log in to view this image 1
Conspiracy theories swirl about geo-engineering, but could it help save the planet? please log in to view this image 18 hours ago By Simon King, @SimonOKing, Lead Weather Presenter Share please log in to view this image BBC If we can’t control rising global temperatures by drastically cutting carbon emissions, could something called geo-engineering be a way to cool the planet? In what is already a £103bn ($135bn) industry, scientists around the world, including in the UK, are researching geo-engineering - ways of manipulating the climate to tackle global warming. Some experts are concerned there are too many risks associated with it, fearing it could mess with global weather patterns or actually warm some regions, not cool them. As the industry grows, so have conspiracy theories. BBC Weather has seen a large increase in social media comments around geo-engineering since January, accusing us of covering up secret projects and wrongly blaming geo-engineering for the cool and wet weather we’ve recently had. Worldwide, there have been twice as many mentions of geo-engineering this year on X, formerly known as Twitter, than over the last six months of 2023. Some geo-engineering ideas include reflecting sunlight back out to space to cool Earth. The most advanced area of geo-engineering is direct air carbon capture with small-scale facilities in operation across Europe, the US and Canada. These currently remove around 10,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide a year (one third of London’s annual emissions), meaning it would need massively scaling up to make any difference to the roughly 35 billion tonnes we emit globally. “We need to start to think about other things that we can do in order to limit any further warming,” says Professor Liz Bentley, chief executive of the Royal Meteorological Society. “That’s where geo-engineering starts to become an interesting discussion.” Aside from fears about exacerbating the effects of climate change, some experts are worried it’s tempting to see geo-engineering as a quick fix that could also distract us from efforts to reduce carbon emissions. Less weird than it seems It sounds like the stuff of science fiction, but the idea of reflecting solar radiation, the technical term for sunlight, is not as crazy as it might sound and sometimes happens in the natural world. During volcanic eruptions, huge amounts of ash and aerosols - tiny particles - can be transported into the high atmosphere which can then reflect solar radiation back into space. please log in to view this image Getty Images When Mount Pinatubo exploded in 1991 it cooled global temperatures The eruption of Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines in 1991 led to the average global temperature cooling by 0.5C over the following couple of years. So, could we really replicate a volcano to cool our planet? Professor Jim Haywood, an atmospheric scientist at the University of Exeter, urges caution. “I really want to know about the detrimental impacts of climate change, but also about the potential side-effects and detrimental impacts of any solar radiation management deployments,” he said. please log in to view this image Researchers are studying two kinds of solar radiation management: marine cloud brightening and stratospheric aerosol injection. Marine cloud brightening involves spraying very fine saltwater from a boat towards low-level clouds above the ocean to enhance their brightness and reflectivity. Modelling has shown that if you were to spray a large area - around 4% of the ocean - near the equator and brighten clouds, the combination of more cloud and consequently a lower sea surface temperature beneath it could have worldwide impacts. Our atmosphere is complex, has no borders and behaves like a fluid. You may have come across the ‘butterfly effect’ where if a butterfly were to flutter its wings in Mexico, it can bring rain to the UK. While in reality that is a big leap, it highlights how weather is connected all over the world. “Brightening the cloud off the coast of Namibia could induce drought over South America and particularly Brazil. What's in Brazil? Well, the rainforests,” Prof Haywood said. In this instance, because of complex atmospheric and ocean circulations, increasing the cloud brightness would cool the sea surface in the eastern south Atlantic, which means the rainfall pattern would be negatively disrupted across the south Atlantic towards South America. Drought in the Amazon rainforest - often referred to as the ‘lungs of the planet’ as they absorb carbon dioxide - could cause considerable damage. While there is focus on using marine cloud brightening to offset global temperature rise, some see an opportunity to use it on a much smaller scale. After a mass coral bleaching event in 2016 in the Great Barrier Reef, scientists at Southern Cross University in Australia have been conducting cloud brightening trials to shield and cool the very coral-rich areas of the reef to prevent bleaching during marine heatwaves. please log in to view this image Southern Cross University Clouds have been spayed in an attempt to protect the Great Barrier Reef “While we are in the early stages in understanding how marine cloud brightening might be applied over the Great Barrier Reef, we have made major scientific advancements. "We have greatly increased our confidence that clouds over the reef can be brightened,” Professor Daniel Harrison, the project lead from Southern Cross University said. Stratospheric tech development The technology to perform marine cloud brightening on a small scale with fans and sprayers already exists, but the other method of solar radiation management - stratospheric aerosol injection - would need greater advances to have the desired impact. This method of geo-engineering involves artificially adding aerosols such as sulphate into the stratosphere, which extends from 6-12 miles (10-20km) to 31 miles (50km) above the Earth. These aerosols would reflect some solar radiation, reducing the amount reaching our planet’s surface and theoretically cause a global cooling. please log in to view this image Getty Images The Great Barrier Reef has suffered catastrophic bleaching How enough aerosol could be injected into the stratosphere is uncertain but planes capable of flying at an altitude of 11 miles (18km) - around 1.5 times higher than commercial aircraft can - are one suggestion. Millions of tonnes of sulphur dioxide would need to be injected to have any impact. For example, during the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo, the resulting half a degree of global cooling was the result of about 15 million tonnes of sulphur dioxide injected into the stratosphere. Because sulphate aerosols only last a couple of years in the atmosphere compared to the decades that carbon dioxide lasts, stratospheric aerosol injection is only seen as a short-term method. This hasn’t stopped one company in the US from starting to sell ‘cooling credits’. For a fee they will send a balloon filled with sulphur dioxide into the stratosphere, where it will burst and release the gas. They suggest that one of their cooling credits - two grams of sulphur dioxide - will “offset one tonne of carbon dioxide warming for one year”. That’s the equivalent of one passenger’s return flight between Paris and New York, which means a lot of balloons would need to be released for this to have any sort of cooling effect. As with marine cloud brightening, there are also risks with stratospheric aerosol injection. In a study earlier this year, computer modelling found that stratospheric aerosol injection could cause strong warming 15km above the tropics which would change large-scale weather patterns, warming the polar regions and altering rainfall patterns over land. “The regional impacts are very much unknown,” Prof Bentley said. ”We may be able to mitigate global average temperature [rise], but we may actually make things worse in certain regions of the world”. Hazard warnings This brings us to fundamental questions about the credibility and risks involved in this kind of intervention. In 2022, hundreds of scientists signed an open letter calling for a global non-use agreement on solar radiation management. They said increasing calls for development provided “cause for concern” with the dangers involved “poorly understood” and something that would act as a disincentive to governments, businesses and societies from decarbonising. The group worries that even doing theoretical research will lead to real-world experiments without fully knowing the downsides. But other scientists think the risk of investigating solar radiation management further is smaller than the risk of relying solely on decarbonisation. Additionally, some say that misinformation and conspiracists are preventing them from doing research. Dr Ramit Debnath, an assistant professor at the University of Cambridge, says “a lot of funders are very sceptical of funding research” because they are wary of being targeted by conspiracists. He has analysed almost 2 million tweets with the hashtag #GeoEngineering and found that over 70% expressed negative sentiments about solar radiation management with the majority tapping into conspiracies. please log in to view this image Getty Images Contrails are known as 'chemtrails' by some conspiracists One of these is to do with ‘chemtrails’, a widely debunked conspiracy theory about an alleged secret plot to spray people with dangerous chemicals, suggesting the white streaks in the sky that come out the back of planes is evidence of this. These are actually condensed water vapour trails - known as contrails - that come from the jet engines of planes. Contrails at this height actually absorb solar radiation and warm the planet and are therefore nothing to do with geo-engineering techniques currently being explored. Dr Debnath says that by so much as talking about solar radiation management on social media, he is accused of “trying to kill people and control people’s lives”. Solar radiation management is being treated with caution - the UK government hasn’t deployed the techniques and has “no plans to do so”. However, they are investing. The Natural Environment Research Council has invited applications for a £10.5m fund in order to “deliver ‘risk-risk analyses’” to assess whether the negative impacts of the technique are greater than the damage that would be caused by climate change. “It isn’t a silver bullet that’s going to solve everything,” said Prof Bentley. “But it possibly could be part of an array of solutions.”
Project Cumulus is an early exampel how to manipulate the weather - and it is documented. Climate "Change" is only part of the puzzle how to frighten people. Have you ever met "Butthuber". I have after he had been thrown out of this forum a couple of years ago. A decent bloke who knows the score. https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2001/aug/30/sillyseason.physicalsciences
Posting this here, not because I think it's a conspiracy, but because I couldn't think where else would be appropriate. The co-defendant of British tech tycoon Mike Lynch in a US fraud trial died in a car crash just days before the businessman went missing after the sinking of his yacht off the coast of Sicily. Stephen Chamberlain, Autonomy's former vice president of finance, who worked alongside chief executive Mr Lynch, was killed after being hit by a vehicle while out running on Saturday, his lawyer, Gary Lincenberg said. Less than 48 hours later, Mr Lynch was among six tourists who went missing after a luxury yacht sank in a tornado off the coast of Sicily early on Monday. It's certainly a bizarre coincidence.
What is the Great Reset - and how did it get hijacked by conspiracy theories? 24 June 2021 Share Save BBC Monitoring and BBC Reality Check BBC News please log in to view this image Getty Images A vague set of proposals from an influential organisation has been transformed by online conspiracy theorists into a powerful viral rallying cry. What is the truth behind the "Great Reset"? Believers spin dark tales about an authoritarian socialist world government run by powerful capitalists and politicians - a secret cabal that is broadcasting its plan around the world. Despite all the contradictions in the last sentence, thousands online have latched on to this latest reimagining of an old conspiracy theory - updated for the age of Covid. Where did it begin? Like many popular conspiracy theories, this one starts with a grain of fact. In June 2020, the Prince of Wales and the head of the annual Davos summit launched an initiative calling for the pandemic to be seen as a chance for what they called a Great Reset of the global economy. ADVERTISEMENT A flashy launch video interspersed images of a world in chaos - a dead killer whale, a hurricane, a kangaroo caught in a fire - with a speech by Prince Charles. "We have an incredible opportunity to create entirely new sustainable industries," the prince said. "The time to act is now." Allow Google YouTube content? This article contains content provided by Google YouTube. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Google’s cookie policy and privacy policy before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. Accept and continue The other founder of the initiative is Prof Klaus Schwab, head of the World Economic Forum (WEF), which organises an annual summit in a Swiss ski resort for some of the world's wealthiest and most powerful people. He explained the idea behind the Great Reset in an article accompanying the launch: ADVERTISEMENT "The pandemic represents a rare but narrow window of opportunity to reflect, reimagine, and reset our world to create a healthier, more equitable, and more prosperous future." There's a Great Reset podcast and even a 280-page book. But the plan is light on specific detail. Prof Schwab does speak about a "wealth tax" and ending fossil fuel subsidies. But the scope is huge - covering technology, climate change, the future of work, international security and other themes - and it's difficult to see precisely what the Great Reset might mean in practice. This lack of clarity, combined with the plan being launched by an influential organisation, provided fertile ground for conspiracy theories to grow. please log in to view this image Getty Images The WEF's head Klaus Schwab launched the Great Reset initiative in June 2020 Advertisement A conspiracy theory is born The proposals, along with the WEF itself, face legitimate criticism from a variety of sources. Conservative political figures and media outlets accuse the organisation of pushing for environmental policies that would hurt the economy. There are questions about whether unelected individuals like Mr Schwab should have the power to lobby so prominently for ideas that could potentially transform the global economy. The Davos meeting is certainly filled with powerful people who have a huge influence on world events. There are also concerns about the impact of technology on civil liberties and jobs. please log in to view this image Getty Images Anti-lockdown activists rally against the Great Reset and the UN in New Zealand But the real energy online is not about legitimate political questions - discussions about fossil fuels and income equality - but in the shape of wild and unsubstantiated claims. The term "Great Reset" has received more than eight million interactions on Facebook and been shared almost two million times on Twitter since the initiative was launched, according to BBC Monitoring research. Advertisement please log in to view this image Among the most popular posts are baseless statements that the Great Reset is a strategic part of a grand conspiracy by the global elite, who somehow planned and managed the Covid-19 pandemic. In this narrative, lockdown restrictions were introduced not to curb the spread of the virus, but to deliberately bring about economic collapse and a socialist world government, albeit run for the benefit of powerful capitalists. The nebulousness of this conspiracy theory means it has found followers among anti-vaccine activists, anti-lockdown campaigners, new-age healers, and those on the far right and far left. please log in to view this image FACEBOOK/TWITTER Conspiracies about a tyrannical world government have gone viral on major social networks Advertisement Melanie Smith, head of analysis at Graphika, who researches online movements and disinformation, says the rumours are typical of an "anti-establishment conspiracy theory". "The most intricate of those typically prove popular with government sceptics from across the political spectrum," she says. In the hands of a diverse group of online activists, the Great Reset has been transformed - from a call to encourage people to think about a sustainable future, to a sinister plot against humanity. How did it go viral? These conspiracy theories began circulating online around the June 2020 launch, but only gained significant traction later in the year. On 15 November, the phrase started trending on Twitter when a video went viral showing Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at a UN meeting in September, saying the pandemic provided an opportunity for a "reset". It's unclear whether he was referring to the WEF plan. Advertisement please log in to view this image But some claimed his speech was proof that global leaders were using the pandemic as a pretext to introduce a range of socialist and environmental policies. Thousands of Donald Trump supporters boosted this idea. They claimed that that a victory for Mr Trump in November's election was the only chance to thwart the so-called secret plot. The 65 days that led to chaos at the Capitol How did the 'Great Reset' go viral? What's the historical background? Most of the narratives being promoted around the Great Reset are not new. Advertisement Experts say similar ideas about the emergence of a totalitarian world government have been circulating since the 1960s under the umbrella term New World Order, which itself borrows ideas from conspiracy theories of the 18th Century. Great Reset sceptics repackage those ideas, folding in new baseless Covid-era claims - for instance about how vaccines "contain microchips" and "enslave" people. Its "adaptability and close ties with New World Order narrative", Ms Smith says, make it likely that the conspiracy theory will outlast the pandemic. Microchips, 'altered DNA' and other false vaccine rumours The accidental invention of the Illuminati conspiracy How Covid myths merged with QAnon In a video from January, the WEF acknowledged that the messaging around the Great Reset didn't quite go to plan. Advertisement "Hands up, this kind of slogan hasn't gone down well," a voiceover says. In response to questions about whether the discussion had been hijacked by conspiracists, the WEF said in a statement: "Conspiracy theories replace reason with fantasy. They are a noisy but peripheral part of the public sphere. "We encourage rationally grounded, fact-based debate." What next for the 'Great Reset'? Conspiracy beliefs are also seeping into discussions about the global response to climate change. Mr Schwab's proposal emphasises the use of more green public infrastructure projects and "greener growth". Advertisement please log in to view this image FACEBOOK Conspiracy-minded activists share frightening memes depicting Prof Schwab Ms Smith says online activists who deny the existence of climate change often engage with the Great Reset theory to "dismiss sustainability and renewable energy initiatives as an elite agenda for control". "The overlap of those conversations may become stronger as climate issues become even more prominent," she says.
We met a fully blown loon this week Working in Strathaven, town just outside of Glasgow, and this geezer stops at the gate and asks if we're putting 5G on the mast. When we told him we were, he went full blown Butthuber mental on us, telling us that they'd be activating the chips in the Covid vaccines and that we'd be responsible for the murder of hundreds of people. Reckoned that we'd be the ones personally liable for these deaths and the police would be hunting us down. After ranting on for about 10 minutes, whilst we tried (in vain) not to laugh he disappeared - obviously gone to dig out his tin foil hat, crazy ****.
