Although there is great scientific potential for the bettering of climate through control of the natural weather systems, there is also great danger to the world ecological system arising from uncontrolled and indiscriminate use of weather modification techniques to increase or decrease precipitation; increase or suppress hail, lightning or fog; and direct or divert storm systems. This is especially true if such modification leads to long-term changes in the atmospheric conditions. In particular the development of weather modification for military purposes creates a threat to peace and world order, because of their relative covertness and widespread potential for devastating impact on a target area and possibly on global weather patterns.
Sometimes referred to as weather warfare, the notion that humans could control Mother Nature became a reality in 1946, when scientists working with the General Electric Research Laboratory released dry ice into clouds, creating the first human-made snowstorm. As noted by Smithsonian Magazine (5 December 2011)
“After the experiments of G.E.’s Research Laboratory, there was a feeling that humanity might finally be able to control one of the greatest variables of life on earth. And, as Cold War tensions heightened, weather control was seen by the United States as a potential weapon that could be even more devastating than nuclear warfare ...
In August of 1953 the United States formed the President’s Advisory Committee on Weather Control. Its stated purpose was to determine the effectiveness of weather modification procedures and the extent to which the government should engage in such activities.”
From 1967 to 1972, the US Air Force ran Operation Popeye, a highly classified rainmaking program deployed in Southeast Asia ‘in an attempt to slow the movement of North Vietnamese troops and supplies through the Ho Chi Minh trail network.’ The eventual revelation of the program caused such international outrage that the UN introduced a convention in 1977 prohibiting the use of environmental modification technology in warfare. The US ratified that convention in 1980.
In several countries, politicians and entrepreneurs, ignorant or impatient of the scientific facts and problems, are initiating and conducting major weather modification projects without the benefit of proper scientific direction, advice or criticism.