Republican lawmakers in Tennessee are attempting to pass laws that would target geoengineering, a controversial technology that could help cool our warming planet, but in doing so, are lending credence to a conspiracy theory known as “chemtrails.”
Knewz.com has learned that Republican Pennsylvania state Senator Doug Mastriano has also announced his intention to push similar legislation through his state legislative branch.
According to The Daily Beast, Mastriano is trying to update a 1967 Pennsylvania law that regulates amateur attempts at cloud seeding, which involves dispersing certain substances in the air that spur condensation and stimulate rain.
The Tennessee law is going after a different technology that suggests spraying sulfur into the air could reflect sunlight to cool the planet. It is a nascent technology with many detractors in the science community who worry about unintended consequences.
But for Republicans in both Tennessee and Pennsylvania, the legal push is tied up in a conspiracy theory known as “chemtrails.”
The idea is that contrails — condensation left behind when a warm airplane engine interacts with the cold atmosphere — are actually nefarious tools used by the government to release toxic chemicals on the general public.
The chemtrails theory is vague about why the government would use planes to spray the chemicals, with theories ranging from weather manipulation to mind control.
Researchers at Harvard University have debunked the claim, saying, “Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof,” which they did not find.
“The claim that there is a large-scale secret program to spray materials from aircraft is extraordinary. Yet all the evidence we have seen to date has been very weak. The most common claim is simply that aircraft contrails look 'different,' without any comparative analysis. This as convincing as saying that alien beings walk among in disguise as people because some people act very strangely,” they wrote.
And yet, a study from 2017 found that 10% of Americans think the chemtrails theory is “completely true,” while another 20-30% said it was “somewhat true.”
Holly Jean Buck, a professor of environment and sustainability at the University at Buffalo, told the Washington Post that the chemtrails conspiracy theory has evolved in recent years to suggest that the government has already begun pursuing geoengineering practices.
She relayed a story of attending a town hall in California where people were passing out information about chemtrails on one side, while including academic debates about geoengineering on the other. She said they were using the societal debate about the efficacy of geoengineering as proof that they were correct about chemtrails all along.
The Tennesee bill would ban “The intentional injection, release, or dispersion, by any means, of chemicals, chemical compounds, substances, or apparatus within the borders of this state into the atmosphere with the express purpose of affecting temperature, weather, or the intensity of the sunlight is prohibited.”
It claims that the federal government may conduct these experiments, with “may” being the operative word, as it has not, in fact, happened.
Experts fret that the domination of the chemtrail conspiracy theory has sabotaged the need for a genuine debate about whether geoengineering could be a viable weapon in the fight against climate change.
Geoengineering is no silver bullet, and there are genuine concerns it could do more harm than good, but the conversation surrounding the technology has become a swamp for conspiracy theories.
The Harvard study laid it out simply:
“If you believe in chemtrails, ask yourself how you can be so certain that there is indeed a grand conspiracy. Consider alternative, simple explanations. Remember that the Internet is filled with people who are completely sure about stuff that just isn’t true.”