After a recent article I published on contrails, the scars we see across the sky caused by plane exhaust, I received a few emails about chemtrails – a supposedly related but much more sinister threat to the environment and human health.
   
I had heard of chemtrails prior – usually along with the words, “nutty conspiracy theory”. But with my curiosity piqued after the recent article, I thought I’d look into this a little more.
  
After a bit of reading on various sites, Wikipedia entry on chemtrails seems to sum it up nicely:
  
“The chemtrail conspiracy theory holds that some trails left by aircraft are actually chemical or biological agents deliberately sprayed at high altitudes for purposes undisclosed to the general public in clandestine programs directed by government officials.”
  
The chemtrail conspiracy theory was originally pretty much confined to the USA, but it has spread to other countries courtesy of the Internet; including our shores here in Australia.
  
While I was a big X-Files fan and I’m also aware government testing of unsuspecting civilians with various compounds certainly has precedent, I think perhaps those investing energy in the subject of chemtrails are wasting it.
  
Let’s just say for a moment this was true, chemtrails exist and sections of the US population are being bombarded. 
 
With seemingly no credible science to back it up – although investigations have occurred – and it being so incredibly well covered up; and considering we are living in a world with *so many* clear and present dangers to the environment and ourselves; perhaps the efforts of the chemtrail crowd would be better directed to those other issues first. 
 
Aside from addressing the threats we know about (with certainty), it would be like peeling back the layer of an onion – at some stage other conspiracy theories may be proven fact.
 
I was speaking with someone today who has been inundated with material on chemtrails for some reason and he commented that perhaps the attention should be turned to all the toxic material from coal fired power stations that now permeates every corner of our planet, not to mention the related carbon issues.
 
Coal is a known threat. Coal fired power generation is a clear and present danger. But we haven’t fixed the problem yet. Lots to do there.

“Innocent” contrails, not chemtrails, have already been observed to affect regional weather in areas experiencing heavy air traffic. As air travel increases and expands, the impact may become globally significant.
 
While not on the scale of coal, contrails and not chemtrails are another known threat. A clear and present danger of sorts. Let’s deal with that.
 
I’m on a few email lists where some of the environmental news items are incredibly out there. The pursuit of such conspiracy theories does the environmental movement no favors in my opinion.
 
One of the aspects I loved about the X-Files was for an hour I could immerse myself in a world of conspiracy, ghouls, greens and grays – a world where all I had sometimes suspected or conjectured was “proven” true. At the end of that hour though, I came back to the real world where most of it wasn’t.
 
While I still maintain much of the way our modern world works is a conspiracy of sorts, I’m reminded of the wise words of a young FBI agent (well, her script writer):
  
“Mulder, not everything is a labyrinth of dark conspiracy, and not everybody is plotting to deceive, inveigle and obfuscate” – Dana Scully.

Additional thought – denying a conspiracy exists doesn’t necessarily make you part of it :)