There is no doubt a properly-done cloudbusting project by someone who knew what they were doing could do a great deal of good in this dire situation. But to advocate that a large number of untrained individuals who have no idea of the theoretical underpinnings of the cloudbuster or of the normal atmospheric dynamics and what has gone wrong with those natural processes to cause the drought simply take up cloudbusting with no information on how to use a cloudbuster properly or who else might be using one just over the hill, out of sight, is reckless in the extreme.
Would Jerry also advocate that anyone should be allowed to practice medicine, without undergoing any training first? Does he think there is no need to require a person to show he knows how to drive before getting behind the wheel of a car on a public road? Would Jerry like to travel in an airplane if he saw the pilot reading a book on "How To Fly" before the flight?
I had another e-mail from Jerry again today, again protesting against my attempts to discourage him from advocating promiscuous cloudbusting by untrained people. I sent the following reply:
Dear Jerry,
I think there is not too much difference between my carrying on a campaign against the irresponsible proliferation of cloudbusters and any other type of environmental campaign by any other environmentalist. It just so happens that I am one of the very few who knows about cloudbusting, or at least takes it seriously. Most environmental activists have ether never heard of it or think it is nonsense, just as most of the population does, of course.
Since I do know that it does indeed affect the weather, and am aware of the dangers involved in such a device being used by people who either do not understand the basic principles of it, or have no idea of how the ecosystem would be damaged by their playing around with it, I feel a responsibility to make a few waves when I hear of someone misusing a cloudbuster.
Some people say the same things you say about me to the activists who are working on other issues. The Japanese whalers call the Sea Shepherds terrorists. The loggers think the people working on forest protection should go home and stop bothering honest decent workers who are only trying to earn a living by chopping down trees. The CEOs of companies like Monsanto think the people who raise doubts about GM foods are being silly and interfering with honest business. And the military think the peace movement people are out of touch with reality.
And none of the activists gives up and goes home and stops working on an issue just because the corporation or government department that they consider to be doing damage to the earth tells them to quit. It is a normal part of doing environmental work that the evil-doers who are damaging the planet will want you to stop. And the hostility the evil-doers show is good evidence that you are touching a nerve.
I am a great admirer of Captain Paul Watson, the founder of the Sea Shepherds. He has been actively campaigning against whaling for over 30 years, and he is not ever going to stop just because the Japanese whalers call him names and advise him to get laid instead. If you want to see a bit of what motivates me, take a look at the Sea Shepherd website, www.seashepherd.org and read some of the editorials and commentary posted there.
In the case of cloudbusting, most of the evil-doers are single, private individuals, not big corporations, but the principle is the same. It makes no difference if someone is clear-cutting forests with chainsaws, harpooning whales, shooting endangered species for body parts to sell to the Chinese medicine trade, or trying to break a drought and save lives. They are all doing environmental damage and it is a duty of those who see that to try to stop them.