This afternoon I was driving back home from the office when I heard a news story about cloud seeding, also known as weather modification, on National Public Radio's All Things Considered. Here's a link to the report: http://science.kqed.org/quest/audio/in-dry-year-california-looks-to-cloud-seeding/
California has been experimenting with cloud seeding to increase precipitation since the middle of last century. The problems with this are:
1) This program costs millions of dollars annually, and it's still unknown whether there's any benefit
2) A non-organic chemical is deployed into the air and subsequently the surrounding environment which is toxic
The chemical used is silver iodide. While silver compounds are reported to be "much less toxic than other heavy metals," the reality is these compounds are still toxic.
Science appears to be getting desperate to solve problems such as water scarcity, which is directly linked to human consumption. It doesn't take a well educated person to understand pumping harmful chemicals into our environment will only further damage our resources, ecological and human well being overall. Instead of continuing to push the envelope on how far our environment can sustain human development, why don't we look at more ways in which we humans can limit our demands/burdens on our world?
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