Page 124 - James Rodger Fleming - Fixing the sky

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a vain effort to make the water flow.” Weather forecaster Ford Carpenter’s
examination into the methods of the rainmaker revealed “a disregard of physi-
59
cal laws,” with no proof or prospect of success; and Cornell University presi-
dent David Starr Jordan ridiculed rainmakers when he called their attempts
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to grow rich without risk or effort “the art of pluviculture,” a practice that
William Humphreys defined as “the growing and marketing of rain-making
schemes, a never-failing drought crop.” 61
Are there charlatans out there now? Certainly there are huge commercial
interests, similar to Irving Krick’s, hoping to profit from the scientific and
social angst surrounding looming water shortages, damaging storms, and cli-
mate change. The Provaqua project in Laredo is one obvious example. Massive
ocean iron fertilization schemes to cash in on carbon credits also come to mind
(chapter 8). Weather control is currently being practiced on five continents in
some forty-seven countries, through some 150 experimental and operational
programs. To what effect? In 2002 the Texas Department of Agriculture pro-
vided funding of $2.4 million for rainmaking activities. Throughout the Amer-
ican West, agricultural, water conservation, and hydropower interests are con-
ducting routine weather modification operations that cover about one-third of
the total area. They are not sure if their efforts are effective, but they are afraid
to stop!
In 2003 the National Academy of Sciences issued the report Critical Issues
in Weather Modification Research. The study cited looming social and environ-
mental challenges such as water shortages and drought, property damage and
loss of life from severe storms as justifications for investing in major new national
and international programs in weather modification research—in essence, find-
ing engineering solutions for nature’s shortfalls and wrath. Although the report
acknowledged that there was no “convincing scientific proof of efficacy of inten-
tional weather modification efforts,” its authors believed that there should be “a
renewed commitment” in the field. The fact is, weather modification has never
been shown to work in a reliable and controllable way, and the report admitted
as much: “Evaluation methodologies vary but in general do not provide convinc-
ing scientific evidence for either success or failure.” This has been true through-
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out history, and it remains true today.
During the 2008 Summer olympics, China spent more money on rainmak-
ing and rain suppression than any other nation—but with no verifiable results.
The country has developed a cadre of peasant artillerists, supported by a high-
tech weather central, who stand ready to bombard every passing cloud with
chemical agents assumed to either dry it out or make it precipitate. Note the
use of cannon. In every era, weather and climate controllers employ the latest

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