Science Promises They Aren't Controlling the Weather. But They'd Love to Try.
You've seen contrails before -- those long cloud streams left when planes cross the sky. If the air is humid and cold enough, water vapor from the jet exhaust condenses into ice crystals. That's what makes the clouds.
If you believe what they tell us.
A fair amount of people don't. They're convinced those streaks are "chemtrails", part of the government's secret plan to control the weather by spraying chemicals into the stratosphere, putting innocent people below in danger.
The suspicion isn't without basis. In 1996 the U.S. Air Force commissioned a study to brainstorm the potential military benefits of weather modification. The report, called "Weather as a Force Multiplier", addressed a wide spectrum of possibilities for this yet unproven tactic. Ideas ranged from removing rain for better communication or lifting fog to improve visibility, to more aggressive outcomes like flooding enemy lines and disrupting enemy surveillance.
Believers in chemtrails point to this report as evidence the government is spraying substances into the atmosphere. Many of the methods in the report do just that. For example, "precipitation enhancement" involves dispersing carbon black dust in the air to absorb solar energy and increase evaporation. "Precipitation suppression" is done by seeding clouds with chemicals. There's even a proposed method to create clouds with unmanned flying craft; sounding a lot like chemtrails, these UAV's would disperse a "cirrus shield" intended to deny the enemy visual and infrared surveillance.
But this report was hypothetical, an examination of wild ideas. The technology either doesn't exist or hasn't been tried. Environmental scientists are adamant "chemtrails" are fiction. What you see in the sky are normal aircraft contrails. No one in the government is trying to geo engineer the weather.
Except they are.
The idea was prompted by the eruption of Mount Pinatubo, in 1991. It was among the most powerful volcanic eruptions of the 20th century. Twenty million tons of sulfur dioxide were released in the atmosphere by this catastrophic event. The cloud of ash from the volcano in Luzon, Philippines reached twenty-two miles into the stratosphere and circled the Earth.
This massive cloud of sulfur aerosols caught the attention of mainstream science. It had a surprising and somewhat staggering affect: significant sunlight never made it to Earth, but was instead reflected back into space. The result was a global cooling of nearly a full degree Farenheit. And not just for a day. The change happened for a year.
Suddenly scientists had a real-life case study. Stratospheric aerosols could relieve us from global warming.
The idea is officially called Solar Radiation Management (SMR).
And this year, lawmakers in at least 25 states introduced legislation to ban the practice, before it could even be tested.
Why would lawmakers want this stopped? For the same reasons people fear those nonexistent "chemtrails". Experiments with the weather can go wrong. Disrupting precipitation patterns, damaging the ozone layer, altering regional climates, causing acid rain, or harming air quality at all -- local governments have deep concerns over "planetary meddling" and mistrust "technofixes" that may leave the underlying cause of global warming in tact while taking dangerous chances with our environment.
State legislatures are taking no chances. The proposed laws would prohibit the release of substances into the atmosphere for the purpose of weather modification or solar radiation management.
But mainstream science is increasingly interested in giving this idea a try. It could be an emergency option if the planet continues to warm. If it works.
Will they try it regardless of what the states say? Hard to know if it works unless you give it a shot. Then again, anything dispersed in the clouds can get out of control. The atmosphere doesn't obey state boundries.
Next time you look up and see contrails streaking across the sky, notice if it suddenly rains, or if the sun fades. If so, it might be smart to find the nearest bunker.
