Secretive Solar Geoengineering Test in San Francisco Bay
Unbeknownst to most people, including the people who
are actually living in the
area, scientists have begun to conduct a secret
experiment which
involves shooting aerosols up into the sky in the hope
of preventing global warming. Specifically, this is a solar
geoengineering experiment right outside of San Francisco that's trying
to create brighter clouds that would, in theory at least,
reflect more sunlight away from the Earth.
Here's how the experiment was described four days ago in the pages
of Scientific
American. Quote, "The nation's first outdoor test to limit
global
warming by increasing cloud cover launched Tuesday from the deck of a
decommissioned aircraft carrier in the San Francisco Bay.
The experiment, which organizers did not widely announce
to avoid public
backlash, marks the acceleration of a contentious
field of research
known as solar radiation modification.
The concept involves shooting substances such as aerosols into the sky to
reflect sunlight away from the Earth." Now, it really is worth highlighting
that this plan was not kept secret by accident.
It wasn't that people just did not notice the flyers or
they didn't hear the public service announcements or the social media posts.
Instead, the researchers behind this experiment
were intentionally keeping the
local public in the dark in order to stave off criticism.
And the reason we know this is because these researchers,
they gave The New York
Times exclusive access to cover the initial firing of the
spray cannons from the ship. And in their report,
here's what The New York Times
wrote. Quote, "The idea of interfering with nature is so
contentious that organizers of Tuesday's test kept the details
tightly held, concerned that critics would try to stop them."
Nothing breeds
public confidence more than changing the weather without
telling anyone. Regardless, to give you a bit of the specifics,
this plan
of theirs involves spraying trillions of microscopic salt particles up into the
air in an attempt to make clouds more dense.
This will, at least in theory, reflect more of the sun's light away from
the Earth.
Quote, "The Coastal Atmospheric Aerosol Research
and Engagement,
or CARE Project, is using specially built sprayers to shoot
trillions of sea salt particles into the sky in an effort to increase the
density and reflective capacity of marine clouds." Now, this
secretive experiment is being led by researchers affiliated
with the University of
Washington, and the official name for this project,
as was mentioned in this
article right here, is the Coastal Atmospheric Aerosol
Research
and Engagement Project, otherwise known as CARE.
And so with this compassionate-sounding name, alongside the
fact that these researchers didn't bother to announce their plan to the
public in order to avoid backlash, well, I'm sure
that there's nothing to worry about.
Although it is really worth mentioning that even among the
scientists who think that this is a good idea, there's no
consensus that changing the weather like this will not have unintended
consequences. Quote, "Solar radiation modification is
controversial because widespread use of technologies like marine cloud
brightening could alter weather patterns in unclear ways and potentially limit
the productivity of fisheries and farms.
It could also lead to a catastrophic spike in global temperatures if major
geoengineering activities were discontinued before greenhouse gases
decrease to manageable levels." And by the way, it's worth mentioning
that this
plan did not come out of nowhere. For many years, Bill Gates, through his
foundation, has been funding this type of research.
And also two years ago, Joe Biden signed a measure into law
which directed the
Office of Science and Technology Policy to work alongside
NASA on researching
climate intervention. Quote, "An article in MIT Technology Review
reports
the crux of the federal plan is to release tiny particles into the
atmosphere
that theoretically could reflect enough sunlight to slow down the Earth's
warming."
That is, again, at the federal level.
Getting back to this California plan, though, initially, phase one of the plan
is to release these microscopic particles atop the USS Hornet Sea and Air Space
Museum over in Alameda, California, right there in the San Francisco Bay.
This phase will go until the end of May.
Afterwards, phase two will involve shooting these
particles on a pier
about a mile offshore in a coastal environment.
Then, if phase one and phase two prove successful, well,
perhaps the
next phase of this geoengineering scheme will be done right in your own backyard.
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