Latest news with #contrails
Forbes
20-07-2025
- Automotive
- Forbes
The ‘Chemtrails' That Should Worry Us
BERLIN - FEBRUARY 07: An vehicle's exhaust pipe releases fumes on February 7, 2007 in Berlin, ... More Germany. The European Commission announced new carbon dioxide (CO2) targets for car makers which the European Automobile Manufacturers Association said it could not agree with, stating they are "unbalanced and damaging to the European economy in terms of wealth, employment and growth potential." (Photo by) Getty Images I recently wrote a piece debunking weather conspiracy theories. One of the featured topics was 'chemtrails.' Some people believe condensation trails ("contrails") coming out of airplanes are chemtrails being used to control the climate, our minds, or whatever. In that article, I explained what contrails are and pointed to scholarly evidence refuting 'chemtrail' narratives. However, a follower on one of my social media platforms made a great point. 'Chemtrails' that we should be concerned about are right in front of us everyday - exhaust from cars. LONDON, ENGLAND - MARCH 12: Two commercial airliners appear to fly close together as the pass over ... More London on March 12, 2012 in London, England. (Photo by) Getty Images According to a National Weather Service website, contrails are, 'Cloud-like streamers frequently observed to form behind aircraft flying in clear, cold, humid air.' They can be formed by water vapor that overcomes combustion heat or from aerodynamic pressure reduction from air flow around wing tips or propellors. Yes, I know this is not a perfect analogy, but on a cold day, our breath produces something similar to a contrail. TORONTO, ON - February 3 - The breath of a worker on Yonge St. can be seen in the air on a bitterly ... More cold day in Toronto. Lance McMillan/Toronto StarFebruary-3-2023 (Photo by Lance McMillan/Toronto Star via Getty Images) Toronto Star via Getty Images So what's in the exhaust fumes from an automobile? Most cars emit a chemical stew of things. Carbon dioxide, though non-toxic, is a primary contributor to climate warming and ocean acidification. Carbon monoxide is quite toxic, but new engines produce less of it than older cars. It can also interact with other constituents in the atmosphere to affect certain greenhouse gases like methane or ozone. Nitrogen oxides are inherent to most combustion engines and are contributors to photochemical smog. Sulfur dioxide can also contribute to air pollution. Other ingredients in the exhaust pipe 'stew' include hydrofluorocarbons (HFC) and benzene. FILE - In this Jan. 26, 2009 file photo, cars give off exhaust fumes in Montpelier, Vt. The state of ... More Vermont is reaping the benefit of national clean air policies. The Environmental Protection Agency recently reported Vermont hasn't had what it defines as a bad-air day in more than two years. Vermont officials say the state's last unhealthy air day was in July 2011. (AP Photo/Toby Talbot, File) Copyright 2009 AP. All rights reserved. Diesel engines may actually emit small particles of metal and black soot. Laurence Allan wrote, 'Modern cars are fitted with diesel particulate filters (DPFs) to reduce the number of harmful particles being pumped out into the atmosphere.' Particulate matter can cause or amplify certain health ailments. FILE - Smog lingers over the city overlooking the Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles as seen from ... More Signal Hill, Calif., on Monday, March 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Etienne Laurent, File) Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved The EPA website noted, "The Clean Air Act, which was last amended in 1990, requires EPA to set National Ambient Air Quality Standards (40 CFR part 50) for six principal pollutants ("criteria" air pollutants) which can be harmful to public health and the environment." These pollutants are carbon monoxide, lead, ozone, nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide, and particule pollution. Government regulations and recent trends in alternative energy transition have led to cleaner air. Clean Air Acts and EPA regulation have produced progress on cleaner air since 1990. EPA As for carbon dioxide, an EPA website pointed out the following facts: The average passenger car emits roughly 4.6 metric tons of carbon dioxide per year. The average passenger car emits aroud 400 grams of carbon dioxide per mile. Carbon dioxide emissions from one gallon of gasoline is 8,887 grams CO2. It is even slightly higher for diesel. Carbon dioxide values continue to rise globally, and climate continues to change, naturally and through these anthropogenic contributions. Trends in atmospheric carbon dioxide. NOAA
Yahoo
11-07-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
EPA head promises 'total transparency' on geoengineering and contrails as weather conspiracy theories swirl
The head of the Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday appeared to nod to conspiracy theories that have swirled around recent extreme weather events, directing people to the agency's website for science-based information on geoengineering and contrails. In a post on X, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said that people 'have legitimate questions about contrails and geoengineering, and they deserve straight answers.' 'We're publishing everything EPA knows about these topics on these websites,' he wrote in a news release Thursday that promised 'total transparency with the American public.' 'EPA shares the significant reservations many Americans have when it comes to geoengineering activities," he said. The new websites offer a variety of information that appears to stick closely to generally accepted definitions and science around geoengineering and the government's ongoing research on contrails. Some sections even debunk the more outlandish claims of government weather control. 'Has large-scale solar geoengineering deployment already happened?' the EPA's new 'Frequent Questions' section asks, answering: 'No. The U.S. government is not engaged in any form of outdoor solar geoengineering testing (e.g., small-scale experiments designed to study injection technologies) or large-scale deployment (e.g., intentional use of SRM to cool the Earth).' SRM refers to solar radiation modification. Severe weather events have hammered parts of the United States in recent days. In Texas, at least 120 people have died and 173 are still missing after a devastating flood wiped out at least six communities July 4. Four days later, in New Mexico, at least three people died after a flood in Ruidoso, a resort town already susceptible to mudslides and runoff after two catastrophic fires last year. Scientifically baseless claims of weather control have become an increasingly common reaction to extreme weather, moving from the fringe and into some mainstream discourse. Many of these claims center on fears of government control of the weather, with some pointing to technologies like cloud seeding, a technique used to increase rain and snowfall. Others offer a vague assertion that whatever is happening to the weather is not natural. 'Fake weather. Fake hurricanes. Fake flooding. Fake. Fake. Fake,' Kandiss Taylor, a Republican congressional candidate in Georgia, said in a July 5 post on X about the Texas flood, now pinned on her page. The inclusion of contrails, a natural phenomenon from aircraft or rockets, also seemed to point to long-running conspiracy theories about 'chemtrails,' which have included repeatedly debunked claims of shadowy programs meant to poison Americans. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has repeated chemtrail misinformation, welcomed Zeldin's move. 'Im so proud of my friend Lee Zeldin and President Donald Trump for their commitment to finally shatter the Deep State Omerta regarding the diabolical mass poisoning of our people, our communities, our waterways and farms, and our purple mountains, majesty,' he wrote in a post on X in reply to Zeldin. The EPA resources Zeldin pointed to, however, offered no evidence of a diabolical plot. The new EPA page on contrails seeks to address 'myths and misconceptions that have persisted for decades,' according to the release. The page says that sometimes, chemicals are intentionally 'sprayed from aircraft for legitimate purposes like firefighting or farming' and that the 'federal government is not aware of there ever being a contrail intentionally formed over the United States for the purpose of geoengineering or weather modification.' The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said it is against its policy to comment on statements made by anyone outside the agency but later added that it is "aware of recent threats against weather radar sites and is working with local and other authorities in monitoring the situation closely.' The National Weather Service, the Department of Health and Human Services and the EPA did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Solar geoengineering activities involve cooling the Earth by reflecting sunlight into space through the dispersal of small particles into the upper atmosphere or by increasing the size and brightness of clouds over the ocean, among other ideas. Meteorologist Matthew Cappucci noted that any claims that current geoengineering technologies can cause or worsen severe weather are false. 'The conspiracy theories swarming around on social media have been disappointing, particularly considering elected officials have been pushing them,' he said. 'The conspiracies have no scientific basis, and even a shred of basic scientific literacy debunks them.' Still, claims of weather-control technology, once confined to relatively fringe circles, have gained some traction in the Republican Party. In some states, conservative politicians have passed laws that allude to fringe ideas and seek to ban geoengineering, which is used to counteract the effects of climate change. After Hurricanes Milton and Helene last year, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., claimed 'they can control the weather.' On Saturday, she said she was introducing a bill that 'prohibits the injection, release, or dispersion of chemicals or substances into the atmosphere for the express purpose of altering weather, temperature, climate, or sunlight intensity.' 'We must end the dangerous and deadly practice of weather modification and geoengineering,' she wrote. Greene added that Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., is a co-sponsor. Burchett has spread similarly bizarre claims about extreme weather. In a statement, a spokesperson for Greene said that the congresswoman "has long discussed this issue" and that the bill was not related to the Texas flooding. In a follow-up email, Greene said she spoke with Zeldin and was encouraged by his move, adding that she looks forward to pursuing her legislation and is happy the topics are getting attention. "This is an uncontrolled experiment being carried out in our skies without consent. It's reckless, it's dangerous, and it must stop," she said in the email. Burchett's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Following Milton and Helene, the NOAA released a fact sheet in October 2024 to try to debunk 'weather modification claims' that swelled after those two storms decimated communities in Florida and North Carolina. In it, the agency said that it 'does not fund or participate in cloud seeding or other weather modification projects.' Zeldin's nod toward more fringe explanations for extreme weather comes as the Trump administration has cut funding for climate change research and removed the website that hosted the government's climate assessments. President Donald Trump has called climate change a hoax, even as scientists have increasingly found strong evidence connecting the growing severity and frequency of extreme weather to global warming. Decades of research into weather modification has at times become fodder for conspiracy theorists. From 1962 to 1982, NOAA was involved in a project called STORMFURY that sought to determine whether hurricane intensity could be modified. The research was unsuccessful at altering hurricane intensity and was discontinued. NOAA hasn't attempted similar research since, according to the fact sheet. Cloud seeding is a weather modification technology currently in use. The practice has been around since the 1950s and typically involves spraying silver iodide into clouds to draw water out of the atmosphere and produce extra snow or rain. Currently, cloud seeding programs are primarily used in Western states to boost water supplies, and companies are required to file notices before implementing them. 'Cloud seeding doesn't make water; it helps clouds in marginal environments to release 5-15% more moisture. But in Texas, there was already 100% humidity, extreme moisture and storms. The clouds didn't need any help,' Cappucci said. The spread of these claims has coincided with an uptick in threats directed at meteorologists. While geoengineering is a legitimate scientific endeavor, claims about its ability to control major weather patterns or create severe weather are not grounded in reality. Most geoengineering options are theoretical and untested. Federal researchers have taken only a few small steps toward studying their feasibility, and atmospheric scientists say there is no evidence of any large-scale programs. Last year in Alameda, California, a small-scale testing project of a form of geoengineering called marine cloud brightening by academic scientists was shut down after community outcry, despite researchers demonstrating that the actions were harmless. Psychotherapist Jonathan Alpert explained that conspiratorial thinking usually spikes during moments of collective fear and uncertainty, especially during weather events in which people feel powerless. 'Conspiracy theories offer an emotionally satisfying narrative: They restore a sense of control by framing events as intentional acts by powerful agents rather than random, chaotic phenomena,' Alpert told NBC News. 'In this sense, 'someone is doing this to us' feels more tolerable than 'no one is in control.'' However, while some view the EPA's move as an act of transparency, others believe it's merely the latest political maneuver to avoid critical environmental issues. 'Some people have 'questions' about whether birds are real — will that be your next project?' Rep. Don Beyer D-Va., said in response to Zeldin's Thursday morning post on X teasing the EPA guidelines. 'How much taxpayer money will you be spending on this?' This article was originally published on
The Guardian
12-06-2025
- Health
- The Guardian
Chemtrails: why is RFK Jr battling a debunked conspiracy theory?
The Trump administration appears sceptical about the climate crisis but is deeply concerned about another weather phenomenon: chemtrails. To conspiracists, chemtrails are visible trails left by commercial airliners, lasting longer than the usual condensation trails from jets and containing unknown, sinister chemicals. To weather scientists, chemtrails are a myth based on misidentification and a lack of understanding about how different humidity levels cause contrails to disappear quickly or linger and grow. The US health secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, is determined to take action on chemtrails. During a recent TV discussion, when an audience member said chemtrails were her biggest health worry, Kennedy affirmed that material was being added to jet fuel. 'I'm going to do everything in my power to stop it,' he said. 'Find out who's doing it and holding them accountable.' Kennedy said he was trying to discover which government department was responsible. He suggested the culprits might be Darpa, the Pentagon's advanced research arm. While there really has been military research into contrails, this was aimed at reducing them to make planes harder to spot. Sign up to Down to Earth The planet's most important stories. Get all the week's environment news - the good, the bad and the essential after newsletter promotion Despite many claims, there is no evidence of nefarious substances being covertly added to commercial jet fuel. But to conspiracists, this only proves there must be a cover-up.
Yahoo
08-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Buresh Blog: Weather modification & jet contrails... Sargassum... May night skies
To become a part of the First Alert Neighborhood weather station network - scan below &/or click * here *: So a Florida legislative bill is going to the governor's desk regarding airplanes & weather modification. While the spirit of the bill generally makes sense, there is a great deal of confusion between jet contrails & so-called chemtrails. In summary - Senate Bill 56 repeals the state's ability to issue permits for geoengineering and weather modification. The bill also prohibits the injection, release, or dispersion of chemicals or substances into the atmosphere for the express purpose of altering weather, temperature, climate, or sunlight intensity. Let me be clear right out of the gate: The bottom line is that as long as jets are flying, THERE ARE GOING TO BE CONTRAILS IN OUR SKIES. How extensive & how long these contrails persist before dissipating will be dependent on the WEATHER. Contrails are formed when jet engines release water vapor which condenses & freezes into ice crystals. Strong upper level winds can move the contrails rather quickly while light winds can result in little or no movement with only slow dissipation. Only about 18% of all jet flights form contrails (due to the weather conditions) which typically form above 20,000 feet when the air aloft is cold & humid. But the 'chemtrails' are seemingly being blamed for - & connected to - weather modification, & cloud seeding - which is - at best - a leap of faith & seemingly part of the conspiracy world that has inexplicably gained traction on a variety of topics in recent years. This legislation has only strengthened the belief of those convinced chemtrails are altering our lives. The theory is no doubt largely driven by government distrust but common sense needs to be applied too. Disinformation somehow (world wide web most likely) is 'winning the game' over information. And it's arguable that the media & certainly social media can be blamed too with vast amounts of bad/wrong information not to mention hysterical headlines & comments. Finding *reliable & impartial* sources is especially critical in today's world. In the end... if it sounds too crazy to be true, it probably is. I should point out Florida has previously issued permits for geoengineering and weather modification, including cloud seeding, which involves introducing substances like silver iodide into clouds to increase rainfall or disperse cloud cover. And some U.S. states still do take part in some cloud seeding in hopes of increasing precipitation. The bill's sponsors felt Senate Bill 56 was needed to address conspiracy theories that the government was 'controlling' the weather. There are not, by the way, any ongoing programs for such. To be clear - NOAA *is* researching how climate change might be able to be addressed using certain forms of weather modification including solar radiation modification with the goal of deflecting sunlight thereby theoretically cooling the earth's surface. But it's not something that is being put into practice at this time in the United States. From NOAA's fact sheet: CLAIM: The government is creating, strengthening and/or steering hurricanes into specific communities. FACT: No technology exists that can create, destroy, modify, strengthen or steer hurricanes in any way, shape or form. All hurricanes, including Helene and Milton, are natural phenomena that form on their own due to aligning conditions of the ocean and atmosphere. CLAIM: NOAA modifies the weather. FACT: NOAA does not modify the weather, nor does it fund, participate in or oversee cloud seeding or any other weather modification activities. NOAA's objective is to better understand and predict Earth's systems, from the bottom of the seafloor to the surface of the sun. We are deepening our understanding and deploying new resources to improve forecasting and give communities earlier and more accurate warnings ahead of extreme weather events. NOAA is required by law* to track weather modification activities by others, including cloud seeding, but has no authority to regulate those activities.*The Weather Modification Reporting Act of 1972 (15 Code of Federal Regulations § 908) requires anyone who intends to engage in weather modification activities within the United States, including cloud seeding, to provide a report to the Administrator of NOAA at least 10 days prior to undertaking the activity. Those reports are filed via email and may be found on the NOAA Central Library website. CLAIM: The government is engaging in activities like cloud seeding to modify the weather. FACT: NOAA does not fund or participate in cloud seeding or other weather modification projects. Cloud seeding is the only common weather modification activity currently practiced in the United States — typically by private companies in western mountain basins in winter in order to help generate snow in specific locations, or in the desert southwest to replenish water reservoirs in summer. The method has been used for decades in an effort to increase stored water in snowpack that melts in the spring to maintain adequate water ago, between 1962 and 1982, NOAA provided support for research into whether hurricane intensity could be modified, known as Project STORMFURY. The research was not successful in modifying hurricanes and STORMFURY was discontinued. NOAA has not attempted to modify hurricane intensity and participate in cloud seeding since. For more information on this project, visit this NOAA Atlantic Oceanographic & Meteorological Laboratory website. CLAIM: NEXRAD Doppler radars are being used to steer hurricanes and are targeting specific communities. FACT: Radars are tools for observation and are not able to direct the motion or intensity of air masses or storms. NEXRAD Doppler radars detect precipitation and the motion of the precipitation particles. The radar can determine an object's location, shape, intensity and movement relative to the radar, but cannot alter or move those objects in any way. NEXRAD radars have been an essential weather forecasting tool since the 1990s and weather radars in general have been in use in the United States since the 1950s. CLAIM: Solar geoengineering made hurricanes Helene and Milton worse. FACT: Solar geoengineering, a theoretical practice which would modify the atmosphere to shade Earth's surface by reflecting sunlight back into space, is not taking place at scale anywhere in the world. Geoengineering did not impact hurricanes Helene and Milton, let alone make them Earth's warming atmosphere can cause hurricanes to intensify rapidly and carry more moisture, allowing them to dump higher amounts of rain. Record to near-record warm ocean temperatures across the Gulf of Mexico allowed hurricanes Helene and Milton to rapidly intensify. Natural steering currents in the upper atmosphere determine a storm's path. CLAIM: NOAA is conducting solar geoengineering. FACT: NOAA is not conducting solar geoengineering. NOAA studies the stratosphere and marine boundary layer with instruments on balloons and aircraft to help fill important gaps in our knowledge and inform decisions about the potential risks and benefits of solar geoengineering. CLAIM: NOAA is involved with projects like HAARP and SCOPEX that modify weather. FACT: NOAA is not associated with these projects, neither of which can modify the weather. HAARPoffsite link is a small National Science Foundation-funded facility in Gakona, Alaska, that conducts research on the ionosphere, 30 to 600 miles above the Earth's surface. HAARP (High-frequency Active Auroral Research Program) is not capable of influencing local weather at Earth's surface, let alone tropical cyclones thousands of miles away. The HAARP system is basically a large radio transmitter. SCOPEX,offsite link run out of Harvard University, was a scientific research project to study the behavior of small amounts of aerosols in the stratosphere to advance the understanding of solar geoengineering. The proposed scientific research project ended in March 2024 before field experiments were conducted. The U.S. government has been part of weather modification in the past. These programs are well known & were generally unsuccessful or inconclusive at best. The Desert Research Institute continues to do some cloud seeding in mostly the mountainous Western U.S. during the winter months. You can see a list of past modification programs * here * in the NOAA library including filing a report if you believe you are seeing weather modification happening(!) Personally - in the end... my opinion on most if not all forms of weather modification is that such experimentation should be approached very cautiously, if at all. I have a two-fold concern: (1) 'messing' with Mother Nature could result in upsetting the balance that natural weather changes attempt to equalize.... (2) & - most of all - unintended & unexpected consequences. Tracking ocean & beach seaweed or sargassum. The University of South FL & NASA continue to work together to track and predict Sargassum Seaweed drift. Experimental Weekly Sargassum Inundation Index * here * ... general information * here *. Sargassum or ocean sea weed (brown algae) occurs year-round in our oceans but becomes more prevalent when oceans are warmer. The sargassum peak for the beaches of NE Florida & SE Georgia is typically Sept.-Oct. But there are already some large patches forming over the Atlantic & Caribbean & there has been an above average amount of sea weed on local beaches the past couple of weeks. While sargassum is natural & an important refuge & food source for some marine life, it can be a nuisance on the beaches - a strong odor + lots of flies. May night skies (Sky & Telescope): May 5–6 (all night): The modest Eta Aquariid meteor shower is expected to peak. Viewing is best 2 hours before dawn. May 10 (morning): The waxing gibbous Moon is 1° below Spica, in Virgo. May 13 (evening): Look low in the southeast to catch the waning gibbous Moon and Antares rising together just ½° apart. May 22 (morning): As they climb in the east-southeast, the waning crescent Moon trails Saturn by 3½°. Venus blazes to their lower left. May 23 (morning): The thin lunar crescent, Saturn, and Venus adorn the predawn eastern horizon in a graceful arc. May 29 (evening): The waxing lunar crescent is 5° below Pollux. They soon disappear below west-northwestern horizon. May 31 (evening): The Moon, now higher, greets Mars for the second time this month. The Earthlit lunar crescent sits 4° right of the Red Planet in the west. Moon Phases First Quarter May 4 9:52 a.m. EDT Full Moon May 12 12:56 p.m. EDT (Full Flower Moon; also Milk Moon or Corn Planting Moon) Last Quarter May 20 7:59a.m. EDT New Moon May 26 11:02 p.m. EDT
