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As fires rage across southern California and Arizona, fed by drought, I have received an appeal from James DeMeo, who believes he has perfected an extraordinary cloudbusting technology.

DeMeo is director of research at the Orgone Biophysical Research Lab in Ashland, Oregon. He presents fascinating data about efforts to ‘green the deserts’ in the US and Africa - but what really catches my eye is his account of a two-week mission to my homeland, Israel, to halt a three-year drought. The effects of his cloudbusters were so devastatingly successful that rainfall broke 50-year records, heavy snows covered Turkey and Lebanon, rivers burst their banks and brought traffic to a standstill, and electricity powerlines came crashing down. DeMeo clearly believes in doing a job thoroughly. His methods are inspired by Austrian medic Wilhelm Reich, who believed the energy which flows through humans is the same force that drives the universe. Reich fled the Nazis, only to be persecuted in the US, where his books were burned. He was eventually imprisoned as a ‘quack’ and died in jail.

DeMeo’s cloudbusters certainly appear to work - surely there is evidence enough for the mainstream meteorological community to take his claims seriously. After all, if drought can be averted in Africa, where it is threatening millions of lives, anything must be worth a try. I fear Orgone theory is doomed to be ignored, because it insists that scientists must live good and moral lives. DeMeo’s cloudbusting team have to prove they are capable of loving relationships, showing kindness and respect to all people and to animals too. That is anathema to mainstream science, which holds that morals are irrelevant in the laboratory. Meanwhile, the most famous advocate of greening the deserts remains the wonderful Kate Bush, whose hit single Cloudbusting was inspired by Reich.

To find out more about Uri or send him a personal email visit www.urigeller.com