In June, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed a new bill into law that attempts to ban "weather modification" and "chemtrails" in the state. It went into effect this summer.
Senate Bill 56 is primarily aimed at preventing nonexistent efforts in atmospheric geoengineering, including so-called "chemtrails" that are more accurately called contrails. These are simply condensed ice from normal airplane exhaust. Despite this, DeSantis has been eager to stoke misinformation.
"People got a lot of kooky ideas that they can get in and put things in the atmosphere to block the sun and save us from climate change — we're not playing that game in Florida," said DeSantis in a video this spring when the bill was introduced by State Senator Ileana Garcia.
The governor signed the bill into law this past June, and it went into effect on July 1. Now, any entity found to be engaging in geoengineering in Florida could face a third-degree felony charge carrying five years in prison and fines of up to $100,000, according to the Tampa Bay Times. Publicly-owned airports will also have to report any planes with geoengineering hardware to the Florida Department of Transportation.
A late-July report from NBC News identified a partisan push from lawmakers across the country to introduce similar bills.
Some of the grassroots sentiment seemingly supporting such laws may stem from concerns that actually overlap with those of climate scientists and environmental advocates who understand that destructive weather has intensified due to human-caused pollution.
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"These are not the skies or weather I grew up with here!!" read one Facebook comment in response to DeSantis's video. "How about all this manipulation causing catastrophic Hurricanes in the Gulf Coast that never happened before," said another.
The effects of increasingly extreme weather events are highly visible on the ground, but unfortunately for Floridians, Bill 56 will do nothing to prevent rising sea levels from swallowing up Miami, intensifying storm systems from jacking up housing insurance costs, and worsening droughts from destroying local crops.
The real solution to these problems will rely on reducing emissions. This heat-trapping pollution has been exacerbating all kinds of destructive weather patterns. It's also acidifying and warming oceans, causing significant damage to marine ecosystems.
Meanwhile, contrails — a result of standard flights, given the right temperature and humidity conditions — will still be visible in Florida even with this law on the books. If Floridians are interested in reducing the number of contrails crisscrossing their skies, they'll need to advocate for fewer flights going through their state and fund low-impact, climate-smart travel options like high-speed rail.
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