Andrew and list,  cc Eugene

1.  I suggest that Andrew's dollar amounts indicated below are probably needed, 
but very unlikely to be found - maybe even after decades.

2.  The reason is twofold 
     a.  Too many disciplines - career advancement demands publication in 
journals close to your field of employment.  I was chair of ASES, the American 
Solar Energy Society, which after more than fifty years and  dozens of state 
affiliates (i helped found one) is still in serious financial difficulty.  The 
PV researchers tend to go to Physics Journals ( some to IEEE),  the wind 
researchers go to mechanical and aeronautical society journals.  ASES doesn't 
even make a pretense with biomass, hydro, geothermal, oceans.
   I believe this list membership is similar.

     b.  too little tie to corporations- where the big money can be.  ASES has 
a type of member that big corporations (with exceptions) see little need to 
reach.
    I believe the same is true here.

   3.  Eugene's reference to IEEE is still pertinent.  I was an IEEE member, 
faculty advisor to a student chapter, it's first Congressional fellow, and 
Chair of a local Society group.  But I switched membership allegiance to ASES, 
when IEEE offered me too little (maybe that has changed).  If this group could 
find a parent group like IEEE, that could be perfect.
    For those not familiar with IEEE, it is the world's largest professional 
group, with 38 different specialist "Societies", many state or smaller groups.  
In checking just now, I found seven IEEE student groups in Atlanta (and would 
have guessed one).  The IEEE has ten regions, four out of the US.
    I don't see one like IEEE on the horizon for this list for many years..  I 
wouldn't stop looking.

4.  Now, I have again switched to a six year old group, IBI, and its even 
younger national affiliate,, USBI, with all the same discipline and corporate 
support problems.  Lots of volunteers however, and conferences are occurring 
regularly that way, with zero support from the struggling 
larger groups.  There is benefit in being volunteer-based.
  The situation will change when there are Geoengineering degrees and big 
corporations seeing value in a membership organization with "geoengineering" in 
it's name.
    In sum, I see no realistic near-term alternative for this list as is - and 
so again thank Andrew for his, I presume, volunteer efforts

Ron


On Jun 8, 2013, at 8:06 AM, euggor...@comcast.net wrote:

> In contrast I have been involved in IEEE (while also maintaining a serious 
> R&D job outside IEEE ) since ~1960 having run conferences, served on 
> publication committees, founded and served as an assistant editor on 2 
> publications, and founded and run one IEEE society, served on the IEEE awards 
> committee, founded one major award, etc. so excuse me if I have a hangup 
> concerning the value of professional organizations. Although this 
> geoengineering group activity serves a valuable purpose I firmly believe it 
> would be far more effective if it were a recognized society as I described 
> below. Discussions would include effectiveness of a particular technique but 
> while slams against geoengineering R&D as an activity would still occur they 
> would be laughable. In my opinion individuals or small groups getting funding 
> for experiments would be more successful. I doubt this group with a narrow 
> administrative base although a serious following through e-mail has the 
> credibility of an ongoing society. I think a society would more effectively 
> achieve the admirable objectives set out below. Geoengineering is important, 
> will be critical and deserves a credible support organization to improve the 
> investment prospects.
> 
> -gene
> 
> From: "Andrew Lockley" <andrew.lock...@gmail.com>
> To: "Eugene I. Gordon" <euggor...@comcast.net>
> Cc: "geoengineering" <geoengineering@googlegroups.com>, "Oliver Tickell" 
> <oliver.tick...@kyoto2.org>
> Sent: Friday, June 7, 2013 10:00:16 PM
> Subject: Re: [geo] Money
> 
> My take on additional funding is that private money could be beneficial in 3 
> key ways, which the state may be slow or reluctant to fund.
> 
> 1) A kitty for funding ad hoc costs, such as conference fees, open access 
> charges , etc. This will allow the removal of minor but annoying road blocks. 
> £50k-£500k
> 
> 2) Extra bodies and more computer time for key labs, to enable them to 
> publish faster 
> £200k-2M
> (more fundable by state than 1&3)
> 
> 3) Serious investment in outdoor experiments, and engineering development of 
> deployment systems 
> £500k-100M
> 
> I have no experience of funding bodies, so I'd welcome comments on the above.
> 
> A
> 
> On Jun 6, 2013 9:34 AM, <euggor...@comcast.net> wrote:
> A:
> If there is any money available  use it to form a geoengineering society to 
> which members belong and pay dues, receive a publication with peer reviewed 
> papers on geoengineering technology and experiments, and can attend an annual 
> meeting; which society is managed and run for all the members and for the 
> benefit of geoengineering. It should not undermine the science/technology by 
> putting limits on what opinions people can  express given they are within 
> proper bounds. Members should be responsible for generating their own 
> proposals and getting grant funding. If money is given to the group and then 
> dispensed it is not likely to get truth in advertising and a small group gets 
> too much power.
> 
> This can be done for a few million dollars annually. I speak from personal 
> experience having done exactly this years back in what is currently a group 
> that is part of IEEE.
> 
> -gene
> 
> From: "Oliver Tickell" <oliver.tick...@kyoto2.org>
> Cc: "geoengineering" <geoengineering@googlegroups.com>
> Sent: Wednesday, June 5, 2013 10:26:18 AM
> Subject: Re: [geo] Money
> 
> There has been sod all funding for studies of accelerated rock 
> weathering. Some work has been done, on farmland in Holland for example, 
> but to get this wiely accepted it's important to know how fast ground 
> olivine weathers in different grain sizes, on land, on coast, different 
> climates, effects on rivers draining olivined catchments, effects on 
> marine biota from washout of Fe (if any) / H4SiO4, usefulness as 
> fertiliser to restore Mg where lacking in soils, etc etc.
> 
> All of which really should be done before any large scale deployment. 
> Oliver.
> 
> On 05/06/2013 10:58, Andrew Lockley wrote:
> >
> > Where do people think extra money is needed to further the study of 
> > geoengineering?
> >
> > A
> >
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