Scientists kept the details of a massive, secretive geoengineering experiment from the public because they feared that “critics would try to stop them.”
Last week, the Coastal Atmospheric Aerosol Research and Engagement — CAARE — project, led by researchers at the University of Washington, launched trillions of microscopic salt particles into the sky off the deck of the USS Hornet Sea, Air & Space Museum in Alameda, California. The researchers aim to increase the density and reflective capacity of clouds to combat ‘climate change.’ They will continue to launch the particles, weather permitting, through the end of May.
The details of the experiment — and its existence — were largely kept hidden from the public because researchers feared “that critics would try to stop them,” reported The New York Times. According to a Scientific American report, the risks of such experiments are “numerous.” It warns that artificially creating cloud cover “could alter weather patterns in unclear ways and potentially limit the productivity of fisheries and farms.”
“History has shown us that when we insert ourselves into [the] modification of nature, there are always very serious unintended consequences,” warned Greg Goldsmith, associate dean for research and development at Chapman University.
News of the experiment comes as Tennessee lawmakers moved to ban similar geoengineering efforts.
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