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Environment Canada is conducting simulated geo-engineering experiments to control climate change.

Federal government documents received by former B.C. premier Bill Vander Zalm through a freedom of information request define geo-engineering as the modification of Earth systems.

“This approach is increasingly discussed in the scientific and policy communities because global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions continue to grow while science is converging on the need to reduce such emissions immediately in order to limit global warming to 2 [degrees Celsius] above pre-industrial levels (i.e. Copenhagen Accord),” states a 2012 Environment Canada briefing paper.

The document notes that geo-engineering methods are classified into two groups: solar radiation management, and carbon dioxide removal from the atmosphere.

It also indicates that government scientists are involved in the internationally-coordinated Geo-Engineering Model Intercomparison Project or GeoMIP. The modeling program seeks to improve understanding of the “efficacy and unintended consequences” of solar radiation management.

The briefing paper was prepared in advance of a top-level inter-agency meeting convened by Environment Canada to discuss matters about geo-engineering options to address climate change.

A Natural Resources Canada memorandum notes that among those scheduled to attend were Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s national security advisor Stephen Rigby, and Richard Fadden, who was at that time director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service.

A slide presentation by Environment Canada reveals that the department has undertaken “two types of experiments”. One simulates the reduction of incoming solar radiation, and another in which “aerosols are injected into the stratosphere”.

Environment Canada didn’t grant the Straight an interview. Spokesperson Danny Kingsberry stressed via email that the department conducts only computer simulations, and not field experiments, as part of its ongoing participation with GeoMIP.

Last summer, Vander Zalm requested information on climate-control engineering being done by the government. Many suspect that cloud-like streams left by airplanes are chemical trails, or “chemtrails” that contain unknown substances used to alter the weather.

The former B.C. premier received 47 pages of documents from the federal government. Six pages were blank, and 10 pages had some portions blacked out.

The retired politician said that the papers prove that Canada is into geo-engineering. “There’s no doubt about it,” Vander Zalm told the Straight by phone. “As to what extent and what they’re spending and where they’re doing it, we don’t know exactly.”