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Bill Gates gives $4.5M to U of C researcher exploring 'artificial' clouds By Margaret Munro, Canwest News Service May 12 , Calgary, Canada Climate researcher David Keith of the University of Calgary, Ken Caldeira of the Carnegie Institution for Science, research planet-cooling ideas , 2010 Comments (14) •Story•Photos ( 2 ) More Images Bill Gates has given $4.5 million to fund work on planet-cooling ideas by a climate specialist at the University of Calgary and a researcher at the Carnegie Institution for Science. Photograph by: Chip Somodevilla, Getty Images, Canwest News ServiceBillionaire Bill Gates is funding experiments to explore using "artificial" clouds to cool the planet. Scientists say the experiments are in the early stages and confined to the lab, but critics say they are laying the groundwork for a trial to whiten clouds in a 10,000-square-kilometre patch of the Pacific. "Bill Gates and his cloud-wrenching cronies have no right to unilaterally change our seas and skies," says Jim Thomas of the Montreal-based ETC Group, part of an international coalition calling for a moratorium on geoengineering experiments. Gates, one of the world's richest men, has given $4.5 million to climate researcher David Keith of the University of Calgary and Ken Caldeira of the Carnegie Institution for Science to fund research on planet-cooling ideas. Keith is on vacation and could not be reached for comment. Caldeira says the money has gone to different researchers, including about $300,000 US to researcher Armand Neukermanns, who is also involved with the Silver Lining Project, which is working on plans to run the world's first cloud brightening trial. The Silver Lining Project would use "cloud" ships to blast tiny droplets of sea water about a kilometre into the atmosphere in a bid to create bright white clouds to reflect sunlight back into space and cool the atmosphere. "David Keith and I allocated funds to Armand Neukermanns to use laboratory experiments to establish whether it would be technically feasible to produce sea water sprays," says Caldeira. He stresses that Gates' money is not going directly to the Silver Lining field trial. The distinction is lost on Thomas. If Neukermanns succeeds in designing a working spray to brighten clouds, Thomas says the technology is likely to be used on the Silver Lining trial. Robert Wood of the University of Washington is one of the scientists collaborating on the Silver Lining Project. He says the concept of whitening and brightening clouds has been around for years and is still unproven. But he and others say it may be one of the most benign ways of cooling the planet if governments cannot agree to cut the greenhouse gases warming the planet. A study commissioned by the Copenhagen Consensus Centre, a European think-tank, has estimated that for $9 billion, a wind-powered fleet of 1,900 ships could be built to cruise the world's oceans, spraying sea water from towers to create and brighten clouds. Wood says the idea is still being tested in the lab, and it will likely take $25 million to $30 million to get the proposed 10,000-square kilometre Silver Lining trial up and running. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation did not respond to requests for comment Tuesday. Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald Read more: http://www.calgaryherald.com/technology/Bill+Gates+gives+researcher+exploring+artificial+clouds/3016274/story.html#ixzz0nlUwIefd
Calgary, Canada Libyan plane crash kills 103, leaves sole survivor An 8-year-old Dutch boy was the sole survivor when a Libyan plane arriving from South Africa exploded on landing at the Libyan capital's airport, killing more than 100 people. May 12, 2010 Libya, Arab Jamahiriya Read more: http://www.calgaryherald.com/Photo+Gallery+Libyan+plane+crash+kills+leaves+sole+survivor/3018351/story.html#ixzz0nlFBTnYw
http://www.calgaryherald.com/Building+blue+whale+captured+time+lapse+photography/3019938/story.html
Canwest News Service May 3, 2010 Calgary, Canada An odd-looking bear shot a few weeks ago by an Inuit hunter in the High Arctic is a rare grizzly-polar bear cross, scientists have confirmed. Moreover, the animal -- with the creamy white fur of a polar bear, but with the big head, long claws and ring of brown hair around its hind common to the grizzly -- may be the first recorded second-generation "grolar bear" found in the wild, said the N.W.T. Environment and Natural Resources Department in a news release. "A wildlife genetics laboratory has since conducted DNA testing on the samples, and the results of the testing point to the animal being a second-generation hybrid bear which resulted from the mating of a polar/grizzly bear female with a male grizzly bear," said the release. Read more: http://www.calgaryherald.com/health/Grizzly+polar+bear+cross+confirmed/2980185/story.html#ixzz0nlkNS9WH
Calgary
By Archie McLean, edmontonjournal.com May 12, 2010 1:03 PM EDMONTON, Canada — The Liberals released a plan this morning that they say would make Alberta “the nation’s most transparent and accountable government.” The policy lays out 12 steps to reform the province’s government. It would entice people to vote with a $50 refundable tax credit, ban all corporate and union donations, strengthen the lobbyist registry and establish an independent committee to review MLA pay and benefits. Liberal Leader David Swann accused the government of fostering “a culture of cronyism and entitlement.” “There’s ample evidence that our current political leaders have become much too comfortable in power,” Swann said. The Liberals have started rolling out policies that they say will form the bones of their next election campaign. Earlier this year, they released a policy on the oil and gas industry and they say they will be rolling out more over the summer and early fall. The party is holding its AGM this weekend in Edmonton. Read more: http://www.calgaryherald.com/Alberta+liberals+unveil+reform+plan+with+voting+credit+corporate+donations/3018662/story.html#ixzz0nljqh1YT
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