Darianne Shepherd
Professor Hickman
Rough Draft
23 October, 2018
The Dangers of Geoengineering
The environment and climate system are collapsing all around us and we are seeing major climate change. Is geoengineering the answer to all the climate change or is it the cause of all the chaos? Is there some kind of sinister hidden agenda or are they trying to use geoengineering to help the climate with global warming? Geoengineering is climate mitigation and engineering which means controlling and manipulating the weather to counteract global warming. These biological agents and chemicals are dangerous to the health of the planet and every living thing on it. Geoengineering can be a controversial topic because of the conflicting evidence and research out there. Even though there are legitimate reasons for the geoengineering program it still has consequences that could potentially be life threatening. Spraying the upper atmosphere with toxic aerosols is causing drastic weather changes, health problems, and destroying the ozone layer.
Geoengineering is causing a lot of repercussions by spraying the atmosphere with poisonous aerosols. There is a nationwide aerosol spraying program that has been going on for years now. It is run by the U.S. Navy, the U.S. Coast Guard and the U.S. Air Force. The biological agents and chemicals that are being sprayed are dangerous to the health of the planet and everything living on it. Aluminum is one of the main heavy metals that has been showing up in multiple rain and snow tests around the world. Aluminum along with barium, strontium, thorium, and manganese is in the air that we breathe. Fluoride has even been reported in recent rain and snow tests from Norway (Wigington 2018). When heavy metals are inhaled they can get lodged in the body because they are microscopic, and they are almost impossible to get rid of. They can cause an array of diseases and respiratory ailments. Autoimmune diseases are at an all-time high which many of these diseases are from toxic heavy metal exposure (Wigington 2018). There are other factors that are causing disease in the world today, one of them being the pesticides used by farmers and workers along with genetically modified organisms. Geoengineering may not be 100% of the cause of everything that is going wrong in the world today, but it is a large percentage of it. Everything we eat seems to be contaminated with these toxic heavy metals and plants are absorbing them which is damaging crops all around the world. These same plants are also being sprayed with pesticides, so the food is becoming more and more toxic. All this information is public and can easily be found on the internet if searched correctly. There are many patents from government agencies that state that these programs are in full effect.
One claim in one of the U.S. geoengineering patents states, "The method of claim wherein said material comprises one or more of the oxides of metals (Chang, Fu 1990)" This was from a patent about stratospheric Welsbach seeding for reduction of global warming. Our skies are being sprayed with these chemicals which is causing an array of problems. By the mid 1960's these programs already had budgets into the hundreds of millions of dollars which are found in the NASA archives along with senate documents that are extensive (Wigington 2015). There is a lot of government documents stating that these programs exist, so it is clearly not a secret, but it is hidden so deep that most of the public has no idea that these things are going on.
Why are so many people claiming to see more and more contrails? Experts say that contrails are likely lasting longer than they used to due to changes in jet engine technology (Daley 2016). There has been an increase in air travel over the last couple decades which could also be fueling the belief in chemtrails, and atmospheric changes from global warming may cause the artificial clouds to linger longer than they used to (Daley 2016). Some experts are saying that geoengineering hasn't been implemented yet and it is just a conspiracy theory. The patents and information can be found on government websites which is why it is puzzling why so many people think this is just a conspiracy. A lot of them say that the white trails all over the sky are just contrails from regular lets. Keith says that, "the word chemtrails refers to the theory that governments or other parties are engaged in a secret program to add toxic chemicals to the atmosphere from aircraft in a way that forms visible plumes in the sky (Keith). It is said that there are different agendas for this alleged spraying which include sterilization, population control, mind control and weather control (Keith). The grid patterns from the trails can be explained as the effect of wind movement across travel lanes for aircrafts. There are a lot of aircrafts in the sky and the sky often displays different levels of humidity with clouds that are spotty, and the same conditions apply to the cloud condensing from jet trails (Thomas 2008). People say that the sprayers are turning on and off but that can be explained as normal humidity variations in the atmosphere. There seems to be conflicting evidence and both sides are split and firm in their stances, but the question remains, is geoengineering the cause of all these problems or are there other factors and its not as big of a problem as it seems? The depleting ozone layer is hard to ignore, and experts are wondering if geoengineering is a major factor in that.
Some experts are saying that geoengineering is destroying the ozone which can be life threatening for the future. Let's look at some facts and see if that is even a possibility. Dane Wigington who has a background in solar energy says that, "the primary factors that are wreaking havoc on the biosphere are radio frequency/microwave transmissions and geoengineered aerosol spraying" (Wigington 2017). Spraying aerosols in the upper atmosphere seems to be damaging ozone layer, another consequence of geoengineering. Dane also says that It has caused a dangerous amount of UV radiation exposure and that studies are showing that the atmosphere is shrinking, and it can be linked back to the geoengineering programs (Wigington 2017). There is a massive northern hemisphere ozone hole in addition to the hole that we have had for decades now. There is particulate saturation in the upper atmosphere which is causing a chemical reaction that is causing damage and stratospheric aerosol spraying is to blame. A damaged ozone layer is not something to take lightly and there should be measures taken to help preserve it.
Life cannot exist without the ozone layer and some sources say that the ozone layer is recovering. There seems to be some conflict there, some sources say it is disintegrating while others are saying it might be recovering. There are off the chart UV radiation levels that are evident in the environment, one of them being scorched tree trunks which is a huge red flag that the UV radiation levels are far too high. Dane Wigington says, "extreme UV radiation levels are a major contributing factor regarding overall forest decline" (Wigington 2017). California has had many fires and scorched trees and things that don't seem natural. Clouds that are formed from spraying are destroying the ozone, period. There are scientific sources that are admitting that atmospheric particulates from geoengineering would cause ozone loss and drought (Wigington 2017). The ozone absorbs ultraviolet light from the sun and if that is depleted and damaged it can cause eye damage and increased rates of skin cancer. Leah Burrows says that, "now, researchers from the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) have identified an aerosol for solar geoengineering that may be able to cool the planet while simultaneously repairing ozone damage" (Burrows 2017). The good news is, even if some of the geoengineering programs helped ruin the ozone layer there seems to be a way to fix it and repair it before it's too late.
Meanwhile even if the ozone layer is repaired geoengineering is causing a lot of chaos around the world and drastic weather changes which has been detrimental to some people affected by it. The disasters that have happened all around the world have ruined some people's lives and killed many. Climate engineering is altering upper and lower level wind currents which then triggers ocean current changes in a radical way (Wigington 2015). The geoengineering programs that are fully deployed have been altering rain and wind patterns in extreme way for multiple decades. There many frozen precipitation events that are happening all over the world that are destructive and life threatening. There are even patents for chemical ice nucleation which is for weather modification that the Chinese government has been implementing for a while now and there is also a patent from NASA. Chemical ice nucleation of storms and precipitation creates a dense cold layer of air on the ground level that can lower temperatures temporarily (Wigington 2015). The cost of doing this is causing the climate system to be destroyed and it is worsening the overall warming of the planet. This could even be the very cause of "global warming" Despite the negative repercussions from aerosol spraying researchers are still saying that large amounts of aerosols can cool the planet significantly. They are not denying that aerosol spraying is bad for the ozone but that they want to focus on ways to limit the ozone damage by using nonreactive aerosols (Burrows 2017). A team of researchers found that calcite and limestone could counter ozone loss. Scientists and researchers are finding ways to make the programs better and to help patch the ozone up. In contrast to that other researchers are saying that even if all the risks of geoengineering could be reduced it is not a viable solution to climate change.
Another consequence of geoengineering is that all the air pollution is causing clouds to become taller and deeper which produces heavy thunderstorms and hailstorms. That is why we are seeing an uptick in storms and seeing tornados and earthquakes in places that don't normally get them. Another thing they are using for this program is the massively powerful ionosphere heater which is called HAARP and it is located in Alaska. HAARP has a huge antenna which can transmit almost as much as three million watts of power into the ionosphere (Wigington 2015). By doing that it triggers an electrical chain reaction and causes a huge bulge in the atmosphere and alter the course of the jet stream and can steer weather systems. This kind of manipulation causes storm fronts to be combined and worsened or end up being dispersed. Mersereau states that, "HAARP has been blamed for pretty much everything bad that's happened since the mid-1990s - terrorist attack, car accidents, tornadoes, hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, nightmares, toothaches, bad dates, you name it - but the project is most popularly associated with its alleged "weather control" capabilities (Mersereau 2013)." Some experts are saying that HAARP does not have the power to control the weather even though the frequencies are high powered, it is still not enough to have enough energy to do major or cause any real damage. Jesse Ventura who is the former governor of Minnesota, claims HAARP is a mind-control device and Others are backing that up by saying that it can control the weather. Holmes says that, "Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez said it was used to create the devastating 2010 Haiti earthquake (Holmes 2018)." However, "Bob McCoy, director of Geophysical Institute at the University of Alaska Fairbanks (which operates HAARP) says that none of that is even possible (Holmes 2018)." UAF's McCoy says that HAARP can transmit signals around the world making it possible for them to do experiments with the ionosphere and would like for people to focus on that HAARP allows the scientists to do. Some experts are saying HAARP is powerful enough and others are saying it is not. It is hard to say, but someone may be covering something up or maybe they don't want the public to freak out. HAARP is real, and it has been used for experimenting, now whether that is still going on or not is still debatable. Weighing out all facts and finding sources to trust seems to be the only way to get to the bottom of this. That may be different for everyone but hopefully some day we can all come to the same conclusion and this will be more mainstream. The climate is in chaos and something needs to be done about it either way. This should be in mainstream media so that the public can have a say in what is going on and the programs that are in place.
The climate is out of control which is why it is now common to have spring like temperatures one day and snow the next, it has become very erratic. Professor David Keith of Harvard University who is one of the most respected and prominent scientists told the New York Times that he knows of only two instances where one of the most controversial proposals has been tested in the field (Bell 2018). One of them is called solar geo-engineering which involves atmospheric aerosol injection of tiny reflective particles to reduce the amount of sunlight reaching the earth so that it can cool the planet. (Bell 2018). That sounds like a good plan to help with global warming, but it should still be up for voting by the public. Supposedly successful weather modification efforts have been more localized and not on a grand scale like some people are claiming.
To conclude, still to this day geoengineering is the single most immediate danger and threat to all life on Earth. Geoengineering causes depletion in the ozone layer which is detrimental, drastic weather changes and an array of health problems. Spraying the upper atmosphere is causing the soil and rain water to be tainted with heavy metals. The drastic weather changes have caused an enormous amount of chaos and has even taken lives. Even if some programs could help reverse global warming the repercussions from the spraying will still affect every living thing on earth. There is still more research being done and many different scientists are trying to figure out the best way to approach this issue. The public deserves to know the full truth about these programs, so they can vote whether this is a good idea. It's time to say goodbye to drought, extreme weather, diseases, and toxic skies.
Works Cited
Bell, Chris. "'Chemtrail' Conspiracy Theorists: The People Who Think Governments Control the Weather." BBC News, BBC
Burrows, Leah. "Mitigating the Risk of Geoengineering." Harvard Gazette, Harvard Gazette
Chang, David B, and Shih I Fu. "Stratospheric Welsbach Seeding for Reduction of Global Warming." United States Patent: 5003186, United States Government
Daley, Jason. "Science Officially Debunks Chemtrails, But the Conspiracy Will Likely Live On." Smithsonian, Smithsonian Institution
Dunne, Carey. "My Month with Chemtrails Conspiracy Theorists." The Guardian, Guardian News and Media
Holmes, Loren. "HAARP Opens Doors, but Some Minds Prove Hard to Change." U.S. News & World Report, U.S. News & World Report
Keith, David. "Chemtrails Conspiracy Theory." The Keith Group.
Mersereau, Dennis. "Weather Control Conspiracy Theories: Scientifically Unjustifiable." The Washington Post, WP Company
Thomas, Dave. "The 'Chemtrail Conspiracy'." CSI
Wagner, Gernot. "Chemtrails Aren't the Geoengineering Debate We Should Be Having (Because They Aren't Real)." The Keith Group, Harvard University
Wigington, Dane. "Atmospheric Aerosols And Storm Manipulation." Geoengineering Watch
Wigington, Dane. "Climate Engineering, Ozone Destruction, And Radiation Clouds, The Dangers Of Air Travel." Geoengineering Watch
Wigington, Dane. "Global Weather Modification Assault Causing Climate Chaos And Environmental Catastrophe." Geoengineering Watch
Wigington, Dane. "The Ozone Layer Recovery Lie And Climate Engineering Denial, Both Are Breaking Down." Geoengineering Watch