Humans finally figured out how to make it rain

Hello! Christina, Vox producer, here. Thanks for coming on this journey with me! As with all videos, there are always bits of information that don’t make it in. A tidbit I couldn’t include but found very interesting was that during the Vietnam War (or the American War, as they call it in Vietnam), the US secretly used cloud seeding as a weapon. Here’s a 1972 New York Times article that goes into more detail: www.nytimes.com/1972/07/03/archives/rainmaking-is-… Were you familiar with cloud seeding before watching this video? Let me know in the comments!

It is worrying that people who can be in denial of the human impact on climate change are also provided with tools to directly manipulate the weather.

Forests are the most efficient sources of precipitation. Areas that were stricken with droughts and grew their forests back were able to modify rainfall patterns. But obviously you need a lot of forest. That's why its important to keep the vegetation around.

As a researcher on this topic, what this video fails to mention is that cloud seeding REQUIRES that the water is taken from somewhere else, it only induces rain, yet doesn’t CREATE water, and is therefore not a real solution because it just causes drought in places people can’t afford cloud seeding.

Here after Dubai’s flooding

"No, humans can't possibly be causing climate change!" "Yes, of course seeding the clouds can change the weather!" How can you believe both of these things simultaneously?

Farmer: I don't believe human activity is changing the weather... I want humans to fly over my farm and change the weather.

Doing this means reducing the rain elsewhere, important to note this. Cloud seeding might make the drought less impactful in one area but it may make it worse elsewhere

remember you are not 'creating' rain by this method but prioritising one region for rain over another

For the past 5 minutes, I've been trying to figure out why I'm so bothered by the fact that some people who deny human-caused climate change recognize that climate change is real and that its effects will hurt them. I think the answer is that the same people will vote against measures to reduce carbon emissions. It's like they want protection for themselves and nobody else, so while everybody else suffers they'll be in the position to thrive and deny others their right to protection from climate change. But what they don't realize is that their selfishness will only lead to the problem becoming worse. This isn't like a natural disaster where whatever is inflicting the damage is localized. Climate change affects us all.

I farm in Canada. I've always feared that Montana farmers would seed their clouds before they reach the boarder and rain on me. If you cause a cloud to fall it is not falling on someone else. We are in a two year drought right now.

Are those chemicals harmful to us, plants, animals or the earth? I didn't hear anything about that at all.

And they use to call me a conspiracy theorist over saying they did this they finally admit it

I worry that it's a zero sum game. If people in one place practice cloud seeding, do other people down wind get less rain because there's less water in the air?

Without modifications to the extractive nature of current farming methods, this won't solve the problems. We need more no-till areas, better cover crops, and more natural areas that reinforce the natural water cycling touched on in this video. Forcing rain into an already parched landscape without fixing the issues which caused it won't be anything more than a temporary fix

“The pilots fly through the clouds and leave a trail of chemicals that help form raindrops…” Conspiracy theorists: 👀

Planes releasing chemicals to control the weather: 1980s: science fiction 2000s: conspiracy theory 2020s: reality

The thing that I haven’t heard discussed is the consequence of removing the water before it was going to come down. What about the region behind the seeded area? Are they getting less rain?

I think it's a nice temporary solution, but it should be used to help grow plants that have long-term effects on the wheather (read: trees) instead of using it to continue destorying nature.

You’re growing cotton (huge water intensity crop), in a arid semi desert environment, and have water problems….. I’m shocked that you’re shocked! I wonder if they’re also studying how they’re changing things like air moisture, effects downwind areas….