Tennessee passed a bill on Saturday prohibiting “chemtrails.” The term “chemtrails” is frequently used in conspiracy theories, which falsely claim that the visible white streaks trailing aircraft are toxic.
“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,” according to the bill.
According to the bill, it has been “documented that the federal government or other entities acting on the federal government’s behalf or at the federal government’s request may conduct geoengineering experiments by intentionally dispersing chemicals into the atmosphere, and those activities may occur within the State of Tennessee.
The legislation would prohibit the practice in Tennessee.
What is the chemtrail conspiracy theory?
The chemtrail theory holds that the government secretly adds toxic chemicals to the atmosphere via aircraft, similar to contrails. According to a Harvard University research group that focuses on climate science and technology, the reasoning behind the theory includes sterilization, reduced life expectancy, mind control, and weather control.
The research group has refuted the theory, claiming that there is no credible evidence for the presence of chemtrails.
“Study of solar geoengineering is in the very early stages and the topic is (rightly) a very controversial area of climate policy because if it ever were tested at large scales or implemented it could involve physical risks and would raise a range of serious socio-political and ethical issues,” said the Harvard research group. “We are confident that there is no currently active program to actually test or implement albedo modification outdoors.”
According to Harvard, if there was a large-scale program involving aircraft introducing hazardous chemicals, an operating system would be required to manufacture, load, and disperse materials. Furthermore, if such a system existed, it would necessitate the efforts and collaboration of thousands of people, making it difficult to keep a secret.
According to Harvard, a single individual could easily reveal the existence of the program by using leaked documents, photographs, or hardware.
“Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof. 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,” said Harvard. “The most common claim is simply that aircraft contrails look ‘different’, without any comparative analysis.”
“This [is] as convincing as saying that alien beings walk among people in disguise because some people act very strangely.,” they added.
Contrails are not used for geoengineering
Contrails, which are white streaks of water vapor left in the sky by planes, are not used for geoengineering. Alan Robock, a climate science professor at Rutgers University who studies geoengineering, told USA TODAY that the contrails are simply water clouds caused by jet exhaust.
Furthermore, Dave Fahey, director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s chemical sciences laboratory, believes contrails would be an unsuitable choice for climate intervention.
“Contrails are short-lived cloud effects, lasting less than a few days,” Fahey told USA TODAY. “They would be a very inefficient method.”
Solar geoengineering is a field of study that aims to combat rising global temperatures by reflecting sunlight away from the Earth.
“The idea is that dispersing aerosols – tiny particles – at high altitude would reflect a small fraction of incoming sunlight back to space and cool the planet, offsetting some global warming,” Joshua Horton, a geoengineering research director at Harvard University, told USA TODAY in an email.
However, according to Horton and Robock, this has not yet been developed.
“The technology does not exist,” Robock explained. “There is no mechanism for introducing sulfur gases into the stratosphere. People have designed such planes, but they have not been built.