A Legislative subcommittee invested almost 2 hours on Tuesday talking about the seldom exercised however often spoke about scientific research of climate adjustment and geoengineering.
Assembled by the Residence Subcommittee on Supplying on Federal Government Effectiveness, the hearing labelled “Playing God with the Weather Condition– a Tragic Projection” took a look at the federal government’s function and the prospective unplanned repercussions of climate adjustment and the moral and lawful problems bordering the innovation.
The hearing complies with the intro of the Clear Skies Act in July by the subcommittee’s chair, Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., which looks for a government restriction on geoengineering and climate adjustment.
” Human beings have actually been attempting to manage the climate for centuries,” stated Greene throughout her opening statements. “Today, individuals are still attempting to manage the climate, however some points have actually altered. Modern tries at climate control do not interest divinity. Rather, they utilize innovation to place chemicals overhead,” Greene included.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene talks throughout a hearing labelled “Playing God with the Weather Condition– A Disastrous Projection” at the Capitol, Sept. 16, 2025.
Board on Oversight and Federal Government Reform
The ranking Democrat on the subcommittee, Melanie Stansbury, D-N.M., examined both the intentions and the suitability of the hearing.
” There’s a much more dangerous concern below, which I assume we have actually currently listened to in a few of the remarks, which is making use of the system of Congress to push anti-science concepts to system environment denialism and to inevitably place our neighborhoods in danger by remaining to produce disinformation,” Stansbury stated.
While the hearing discussed legit clinical subjects like solar radiation adjustment, likewise called solar geoengineering, and cloud seeding, it likewise included states of unmasked contrarian concepts. The ABC Information climate, environment and scientific research device fact-checked essential cases made throughout the public hearing.
Insurance Claim: “Today’s supporters of geoengineering do not simply wish to resolve dry spells or enhance problems for farming; they wish to manage the Planet’s environment to resolve the phony environment adjustment scam and avoid worldwide warming.”
Reality check: The Intergovernmental Panel on Environment Modification’s (IPCC) Sixth Analysis Record (AR6) was an eight-year task led by the globe’s most reliable clinical body on environment adjustment, consisting of 234 researchers that concentrate on the physical scientific research of environment adjustment, 270 researchers that research effects, adjustment and susceptability and one more 278 that are professionals on environment adjustment reduction. The clinical body got to a clear agreement. The record located that human-caused discharges are driving contemporary environment adjustment, which influences every component of the globe, which it is extraordinary in contemporary times. On top of that, there have actually been no initiatives to change the environment on an international range and there’s no present innovation that would certainly make that feasible.
Insurance Claim: “One [intervention] is to get rid of co2 from the environment. Yes, the exact same co2 that maintains plants active and avoids mass hunger.”
Reality check: Co2 is important for our earth and there have actually been no initiatives to get rid of all of it from our environment. Treatment initiatives, like improved rock weathering and carbon elimination, can minimize excess quantities of co2 currently existing in Planet’s environment as a result of human-caused greenhouse gas discharges, according to MIT. All-natural procedures, such as woodlands and the sea, get rid of concerning fifty percent of the co2 created annually, however this still leaves billions of lots of excess carbon dioxide, even more than our plants require.
Insurance Claim: “One more technique they wish to utilize is to obstruct the rays of the sunlight from striking the Planet. You listened to that right. Yes, the exact same sunlight that makes all life feasible in the world.”
Reality check: Solar radiation adjustment, likewise called solar geoengineering, describes a collection of suggested modern technologies developed to mirror sunshine back right into area to reduced worldwide temperature levels and fight environment adjustment. While some scientists have actually examined these methods for years, real-world testing has actually been marginal. In 2023, the White Residence released a record that detailed prospective study instructions for solar radiation adjustment (SRM). The record, created by the White Residence Workplace of Scientific Research and Innovation Plan (OSTP) in sychronisation with NOAA and various other government firms, was not a plan proposition however a research study roadmap. Its mentioned objective was to determine important expertise voids connected to SRM and to assist clinical query right into its prospective dangers and advantages.
Insurance Claim: “Cloud seeding, while it might happen, it’s most likely not happening as typically as individuals assume since its impacts are unidentified, or otherwise particular.”
Reality check: Cloud seeding is a climate adjustment strategy that includes launching silver iodide or salt fragments right into the environment to urge water beads to condense or ice up, boosting the opportunities of rainfall. Although the technique has actually been utilized for years, largely in the western USA, its efficiency stays restricted.
According to the Federal Government Liability Workplace (GAO), cloud seeding is normally performed by state firms or personal firms and might boost rainfall by as much as 20 percent– though in a lot of cases, the increase can be marginal or missing. Nonetheless, precisely evaluating the influence of cloud seeding stays challenging as a result of restrictions in the readily available efficiency study. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Management (NOAA) does not fund or take part in cloud seeding or various other climate adjustment tasks. Projects, nevertheless, do require NOAA’s authorization prior to continuing and are provided on the company’s internet site. And cloud seeding isn’t done when hefty rainfall is anticipated or in locations susceptible to flooding.
Insurance Claim: Airplanes are making use of “chemtrails” to change the climate and environment.
Reality check: The subject of contrails, together with conjecture bordering their beginnings, was elevated repetitively throughout the hearing. For many years, several government firms have actually verified that supposed “chemtrails” are in fact contrails that are merely water vapor and unrelated to any kind of type of climate adjustment, positioning no recognized threat to human wellness or the setting.
