But the bill's language also appears to refer to “chemtrails,” the plumes of toxic chemicals that believers of unsubstantiated claims are spewing into the sky by governments and corporations.
Now, scientists say the confusion between solar geoengineering and chemtrails threatens to muddy the waters around nascent geoengineering research and dampen its potential. This is the latest example of how disinformation spreaders manipulate reality and confuse public opinion on the issue in order to pursue their own goals.
Also last week, Pennsylvania Sen. Doug Mastriano (R), who has been posting about chemtrail accusations on social media, announced in a memo that he would propose legislation to mirror Tennessee's bill.
“In my view, the fundamental mindset has changed,” said Holly Jean Buck, a professor of environment and sustainability at the University at Buffalo.
What are “chemtrails”?
The theory of “chemtrails” has been around for decades. His essays appeared online in the late 1990s linking commercial aircraft to chemical spraying and weather regulation. Chemtrail believers say governments or other shadowy forces are using commercial aircraft to release chemicals into the atmosphere for purposes ranging from weather modification to mass mind control.
Those who believe this baseless claim often point to white lines visible in the sky from airliners as evidence of “chemtrails,'' and claim that clouds look different or behave strangely.
These lines are actually airplane contrails, condensation trails created when warm air from the aircraft engine interacts with cold air in the atmosphere.
A study published in 2017 found that 10 percent of Americans believe the chemtrail theory is “totally” true, and an additional 20 to 30 percent think it is “somewhat” true.
But experts say that argument has changed in recent years. Currently, chemtrails are being used to conduct solar geoengineering, and some researchers and government officials investigating solar geoengineering argue that they are part of a larger plan.
“In recent years, there's been a big shift in the idea that climate change engineering and solar radiation management are actually happening and that different chemicals are involved,” Buck says.
What does “chemtrails” have to do with geoengineering?
Solar geoengineering is an emerging field of research concerned with how to cool the Earth in the face of climate change. Scientists have suggested that spraying sulfur particles into the atmosphere could reflect sunlight and help cool the Earth, but researchers say they may have unintended consequences. The technology is still controversial and untested due to concerns about
Last year, the White House released a federally mandated report on the state of the science of solar geoengineering. Some startups are also starting to experiment with science.
Experts say the broader debate about geoengineering has made chemtrail believers feel justified in their concerns.
Buck recalls attending a town hall in California last year. Organizers distributed flyers with information about chemtrails on one side and information about the academic initiative, the Solar Geoengineering Non-Use Agreement, on the other. “They were inspired by the language and felt validated by the academic community,” Buck said.
There are no academic societies or scientific groups conducting large-scale field studies on geoengineering. However, some believe that such geoengineering experiments have already taken place and are widespread.
The Tennessee bill, sponsored by state Sen. Steve Sutherland (R) and state Rep. Monty Fritz (R), would allow the federal government or any other entity to “intentionally create geoengineering by intentionally spraying chemicals into the atmosphere.” “It has been documented that there is a possibility of conducting experiments.” ” The bill prohibits the release of chemicals “with the express purpose of influencing temperature, weather, or the intensity of sunlight.” The bill has not passed the Tennessee House of Representatives.
Pennsylvania Sen. Mastriano released a memo last week saying he would introduce a similar bill. “My law…prohibits the injection, release, or dispersal of any chemical, compound, or substance into the atmosphere within the borders of Pennsylvania for the purpose of affecting temperature, weather, or the intensity of sunlight.” he wrote.
Mr. Sutherland, Mr. Mastriano and Mr. Fritz did not respond to requests for comment.
Last year, Mastriano posted a photo of a contrail on Facebook with the caption: “There are laws to stop this.” The post continued, “A typical contrail dissolves/vaporizes within 30-90 seconds.”
(Contrails freeze into ice and last anywhere from 30 seconds to over 90 seconds.)
Garnaut Wagner, a climate economist at Columbia Business School, said his research found that most discussions about geoengineering on social media contain disinformation. “Half to two-thirds of discussions are happening online.” [on geoengineering] It’s conspiratorial,” Wagner said. “That's unfortunate because there is a real pollution problem.”
The risk, experts say, is that debate over such unsubstantiated claims could distract from the actual public debate about solar geoengineering research. At this point, chemtrail accusations are interacting and merging with concerns about legitimate academic research, creating further confusion and hindering further scientific research. “It can have unintended consequences,” Wagner said.
Chemtrail groups are starting to organize like a social movement, filing lawsuits and introducing legislation, Buck said. “They are using the same tactics that other social movements are using,” she explained. “So this is not a fringe movement, this is a real political force.”
