Lawmakers hold hearing on weather modification. Lawmakers expressed concerns over weather modification and geoengineering.
The US Congress shocked many last week by hosting a public event discussing geoengineering, long considered conspiracy theory. Now, it's serious, as the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) hosted a special hearing titled "Playing God with the Weather: A Disastrous Forecast".
For years, I, and many others, had dismissed such claims or said the sky possible has government experiments that sprayed chemicals without the public's acknowledgment. Now, DOGE is pushing for answers like never before, claiming the American public never agreed to geoengineering.
One participant at the hearing, Dr. Roger Pielke Jr., an expert in technology policy, detailed the "uncertain benefits and catastrophic risks" of geoengineering. He said, in essence, messing with the weather through chemistry has always been risky because we don't understand it well enough and it comes with consequences.
Currently, only Tennessee and Florida have banned geonengineering, but almost half the states have state-level regulations being prepared. This suggests that public awareness is increasing and both the public and activists are forcing some accountability.
Is geoengineering a tool we need to combat climate change or a potential hazardous experiment we barely understand? We're just getting started.
References:
https://oversight.house.gov/hearing/playing-god-with-the-weather-a-disastrous-forecast/