Alien technology can save the planet from global warming. A story quite right out of a comic book? Not really, says a former Canadian Defense Minister.

83-year old Paul Hellyer, who served in Prime Minister Lester Pearson's cabinet and oversaw the integration of the Canadian Armed Forces, says "we need to persuade governments to come clean on what they know. Some of us suspect they know quite a lot, and it might be enough to save our planet if applied quickly enough."

Though the idea seems like it was taken right out of Conspiracy Theory, it does have some solid grounding based on facts and logic. Hellyer points to alien spacecraft sightings and crashes such as the mysterious incidents in Roswell, New Mexico, and other suspected cover-ups.

He says that for UFOs to reach Earth, they must have traveled extraordinary distances. This would only have been possible if the alien technology carries some kind of advanced propulsion methods or special fuels. If this is the case, he says, the technology "could eliminate the burning of fossil fuels within a generation ... that could be a way to save our planet."

Hellyer's statements may have been spurred by the clamor for a reduction in fossil fuel reduction after the dramatic disintegration of ice shelves in Antarctica. He also made news in Canada after telling the press that he saw a UFO.