Late spring and early summer in Upstate used to bring beautiful, clear blue skies. No more. Between November 2024 and July there were fewer than 30 clear, cloudless days. Sadly, most people appear not to notice, accepting the graying skies as the new norm. 

For those who might deny weather manipulation as “conspiracy theory,” Lyndon Johnson touted it as an instrument of war. The Guardian reported that China engaged in the practice for “a major political celebration.” Florida and Tennessee recently criminalized it. Alabama, Arizona, Iowa, Kentucky, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Vermont and Wyoming all have bills pending that ban the practice. 

Atmospheric aerosol injection and solar radiation management occur under the justification of “climate mitigation,” but lack transparency, safety reviews and informed consent from us, the people. What’s more, they devastate alternative forms of energy (solar, wind, hydro), undermining the argument used to justify them. The elements found in the effluence (aluminum oxide, barium, strontium, polymer filaments) harm all life on earth.

No doubt many will scoff, roll their eyes and dismiss the eerie concept of geo-engineering, but I urge them, first, to cast their memory back to the time when June, July and August brought blue skies. Then challenge the knee-jerk impulse to dismiss uncomfortable information by going to geoengineeringwatch.org (50,666,875-plus visitors) and watch the documentary “The Dimming.” Coverage on the subject is also available at thehighwire.com/ark-videos/tackling-the-chemtrail-controversy. 

R.F.K. Jr. publicly acknowledged the practice, expressing a commitment to ending it, but New York State has doubled down. 

I raised my concerns with U.S. Sens. Schumer and Gillibrand, and NYS Assemblymen Joe Angelino, Tague and Maher, and New York Sens. Oberacker and Griffo.

Of the seven legislators I contacted, only Assemblyman Angelino replied to my concerns. 

I suspect there will be some ridiculing, shaming, dismissing responses to this letter. I look forward to reading reasoned, fact-based replies. In the meantime, I urge you to observe the sky, if not for your children’s health, then for all plant and animal life on earth. As Chief Seattle famously said, “The earth does not belong to us. We belong to the earth.”

 Natasha Rasmussen
Tompkins, NY