This bill bans chemtrails, but do they even exist?
The government aims to ban “chemtrails”
Conspiracists believe contrails behind jets are made up of chemicals sprayed by the government to manipulate the weather. A new law in Tennessee could be a way to ban supposed “chemtrails.”
Are chemtrails real?
The chemtrails conspiracy theory posits that the visible trails left by airplanes, known as contrails, are actually chemicals intentionally sprayed into the atmosphere for various nefarious purposes, such as weather control or population manipulation.
Where does the conspiracy theory come from?
The theory often cites historical government projects like Project Stormfury in the 1960s, which aimed to alter weather patterns, as “proof” of ongoing secret programs. However, these past efforts were limited in scope and intent, and there is no evidence linking them to the alleged chemtrails.
“In 1962, the U.S. government launched Project Storm Fury, which aimed to hack hurricanes by seeding them with a chemical that would remove their moisture,” the folks at TMZ explained.
Project Stormfury was a U.S. government initiative launched in 1962 with the goal of weakening hurricanes through cloud seeding. The project involved injecting silver iodide into the eyewalls of hurricanes in an attempt to disrupt their structure and reduce their intensity.
Is there any truth to it?
An Associated Press article from 2022 addressed claims circulating on social media that “chemtrails” were admitted to be real by a CNBC report. The Associated Press clarified that the report discussed research into stratospheric aerosol injection as a potential climate solution, which is not currently in practice and does not relate to the chemtrails theory.
David Keith, a Harvard University professor specializing in solar geoengineering, clarified to the AP in 2022, that discussions about aerosol injection technology are about possibilities rather than current practices.
Instead, they would likely make the sky “a little whiter and hazier,” similar to the appearance of a polluted city sky.
This article is based on information from the Tennessee Legislature, expert opinions from climate scientists, a recent TMZ episode discussing chemtrails, and fact-checking by the Associated Press. This story was reported from Los Angeles.
