Interview with the parliamentarian of the Cyprus Greens George Perdikis
following the council meeting of the European Green Party, Athens, 9-11 November 2012.
W. Hall: Mr Perdikis, what are your assessments of the Conference, and in particular the question of the spraying as it was seen at the Conference, and people’s response.
George Perdikis: It seems that there is not much interest in the Green Party yet in this subject. They ask for more proof. Which is why I consider it very significant what we started in Cyprus, with the investigation that was promised and initiated by the Republic of Cyprus of the chemical composition of the clouds. We have to place more emphasis on the effort to gather more evidence, because both the public and – it seems – the Greens as a political movement dispute the credibility of our views.
W. Hall: Do you think it proves anything when there was a work stoppage last Wednesday, which was the day of a general strike in Greece, and the air traffic controllers stopped for three hours. All the aircraft stopped apart from the aircraft that were spraying.
George Perdikis: That was submitted to the Committee of Investigation in Cyprus by the air traffic controllers themselves. They stated publicly that many of those aircraft are flying without any marks of identification and without communicating with the Control Tower of Larnaca Airport. They use air corridors that are not approved. And you can see that from looking at the sky, that the routes of those aircraft are away from the specific corridors that are used by the aircraft in Cypriot air space. All of this is indicative. To speak personally, it made a particular impression on me that four of the sessions of the Parliamentary Committee for the Environment in the Cypriot Parliament and quite a number of officers from the National Guard, and the air traffic controllers, confirmed that there are serious indications in relation to these suspicious flights. But they remain in the realm of suspicion, for most people. We believe that, as with many other subjects that have to do with people’s security and health, what have to be applied are the principles of due precaution and prudent avoidance.
In this connection too for us the principles of due precaution and prudent avoidance, the acceptance of this standpoint, are what apply pending proof of the contrary. We don’t intend to wait until there is 100% proof that what is said about the aerial spraying is true. It’s up to them to prove that they are not doing it. We believe that they are. There are all the indications and the proof. But for the public, for most people, and unfortunately this also applies for the conference of the Greens. I spoke with some of them, representatives from different countries. They do not believe that this spraying is taking place, that there are these plans for the control of the climate. One representative said that the Chinese are doing this. “Where is your proof that they are doing it in Europe, or in America?” There is this disbelief.
W. Hall: But it is possible to take other approaches. For example there is the totally contradictory policy in Europe of trying to limit emissions from aircraft because they are said to increase the temperature of the atmosphere, whereas on the other hand, within the logic of geoengineering, emissions from aircraft are said to lower the temperature of the atmosphere. You have two entirely contradictory propositions.
George Perdikis: As Cyprus Greens, and I think that this must be the policy of the Greens internationally, we believe that every tactic or policy or technology which simply tries to deal with the symptoms and doesn’t get to source of the problem - so that instead of aiming at creating societies, polities and economies with less pollution and less carbon dioxide we try instead either to store the carbon dioxide or to use external means to stop rises in the temperature of the planet - all of these policies and techniques, to us as Cyprus Greens are unacceptable. We do not accept them. We consider them catastrophic because human beings cannot investigate or predict what they consequences will be of these techniques, as with genetic modification. You might be able to predict what the first stage will be in the effects of these techniques. But you can’t predict the second or the third. Humans are not God and the less this is understood the more we will have such philosophies and inventions, like geoengineering.
W. Hall: What did you think of the poster of the WWF Switzerland that we saw yesterday?
(Translation: Cooling the earth with artificial clouds is a solution for tomorrow. Perhaps. What if YOU were the solution for today?)
George Perdikis: That is precisely what we are talking about. The approach should not be that geoengineering could provide a solution but the best solution is our solution that leads to reduction in carbon dioxide emissions. We say that the only solution is reduction of carbon dioxide emissions, and another society with less energy consumption generally. I think that a conflict has started, misguidedly, between those who support an effort to deal with climate change and those who say that aerial spraying is going on and that this aerial spraying is dangerous to health and to the environment. I have the impression that there are other things hidden behind geoengineering, that they are not simply trying, as they say, to make a positive and honest effort to deal with climate change through aerial spraying. I think that they have other priorities on the agenda, which have to do with climate change, and with the utilization of climate as a strategic weapon in situations of conflict and also perhaps also using spraying for other purposes.
W. Hall: In any case among the Greens it is not only the Cypriots now because other voices are being heard, in Spain, in Sweden, in the milieu of the Greens, and there are hopes that there will be, at least a pan-European and also an international initiative to change this situation, perhaps starting from within the Greens.
George Perdikis: That is a very welcome prospect, that other fellow-Greens have become aware of the situation and are becoming interested and raising questions. We hope we can work together and above all put an end to the conflict between the environmentalists and the activists against chemtrails.
W. Hall: Mr Perdikis, thank you very much.