On April 25, 2023, Georgian writer Merab Ratishvili published a video collage, which features a segment of the speech of the former director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), John O. Brennan.
In the description of the video, Ratishvili notes that Brennan “discusses the injection of chemical trails, aka stratospheric aerosol, as well as stratospheric aerosol geoengineering.” The author of the post also notes that campaigns against Chemtrails have increased; The author of the post links medical and environmental problems precisely with the release of harmful chemicals, the so-called chemical trails.
The next part of the video collage shows additional different shots, including videos taken by two people, who link the footprints left by airplanes in the sky with “chemical trails” and express dissatisfaction
The post contains elements of video manipulation, while the claim about Chemtrails is a conspiracy theory. John O. Brennan discusses one potential method of reducing global warming and discusses the benefits and harms of using it. In fact, airplanes do not emit harmful chemicals, and the footage circulated shows the process of gas condensation in atmospheric conditions.
What did John O. Brennan talk about?
John Brennan’s speech, which was used in the widely disseminated video, was delivered in 2016. At that time, he was still the director of the CIA, and during the interview, he reviewed various global problems and modern trends, including the challenges associated with scientific and technological development.
As one of the examples, Brennan talked about geoengineering, that is, the technologies that might help us alleviate global warming. Then he focused specifically on Stratospheric Aerosol Injection (SAI), which refers to the scattering of particles in the stratosphere, which should reflect the sun’s rays and in this way reduce the temperature of the earth.
Brennan argued that the SAI program might help limit global warming, adding that the risks associated with high temperatures would be reduced as a result, and the world economy would be given more time to find alternatives to fossil fuels.
On the other hand, the director of the CIA at the time also addressed some of the challenges that would be relevant in the case of the deployment of the mentioned technology. Namely, even if the SAI program were to be implemented, greenhouse gas reductions would still be required. In addition, the use of technology may have changed the regularities of the weather. In this case, some regions would benefit less than others, which in turn would lead to conflict.
Brennan then added that there are no globally established standards to guide the use of SAI technology and geoengineering.
Notably, stratospheric aerosol injection was not used in 2016 to combat the climate crisis, and it is not being used now. Studies [1,2,3] are being conducted to test how the technology works, although this process does not involve large-scale particle dispersion. For example, within the SCoPEx project, scientists wanted to emit small amounts of particles to observe the technology in action. They planned to launch the balloon in Sweden to test whether their equipment would be capable of spewing particles in the future, but the Swedish Space Corporation did not allow the test.
Thus, the footage we see in the video released by Ratishvili is simply the footprints left by the planes.
What do we know about the traces left by airplanes in the sky?
The context of the post is based on one of the conspiracy theories, namely, the Chemtrail conspiracy. Proponents of this theory believe that governments or organizations use aerial equipment to release harmful chemicals and microorganisms into the sky.
In general, this type of manipulative videos show the traces left by airplanes in the sky, the so-called contrails. This is the steam produced by the hot gas coming out of the turbines meeting the cold gas.
Conspiracy theorists claim that the smoke they have captured is different from ordinary smoke, and this is proof of its harmful origins. For example, in the video distributed by Ratishvili, a man says that the normal footprint of an airplane should not remain in the sky for so long, which, in itself, is not based on any scientific evidence – the thickness, intensity and other characteristics of the vapor are determined by the conditions in the environment (for example, pressure and temperature), so it It can be different at different times.
Conspiracies around Chemtrails have been debunked by “Myth Detector in the past as well. For more information, see:
- Georgian Facebook Users Spread the Chemtrail Conspiracy Theory
- What is the Chemtrail Conspiracy and is the Spanish Sky Poisoned with Chemicals?
About the Source
Facebook user Merab Ratishvili, who has disseminated the videomanipulation, is a regular amplifier of disinformation. False information disseminated by Ratishvili has been debunked by “Myth Detector” a number of times in the past.
Mariam Ramazashvili
Myth Detector Laboratory
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