Florida State Senator Ileana Garcia has introduced legislation to prohibit “weather modification” activities in the state.

  • @[email protected]
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    17820 hours ago

    Let them pass it, take it to the state courts and then claim (correctly with mountains of scientific evidence) that any combustion of fossil fuels counts as “weather modification”

    • @[email protected]
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      8220 hours ago

      It sounds like they’ve thought of that:

      The “Weather Modification Activities” bill sets out that “the injection, release, or dispersion, by any means, of a chemical, a chemical compound, a substance, or an apparatus into the atmosphere within the borders of this state for the express purpose of affecting the temperature, the weather, or the intensity of sunlight is prohibited.”

      So it allows releasing pollution that causes climate change since it is a side effect of other things (transport, power generation, etc.), but forbids intentionally trying to mitigate climate change by releasing anything into the air. Sounds about right for Florida politics.

      That said, there is a real uncertainty about the side effects of may experimental geoengineering techniques, so some regulation is probably in order. Preferable not from Republicans for ignorant or bad faith reasons though.

      • @[email protected]
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        58 hours ago

        Does this make outdoor misters illegal? Not sure how Disney World lines would be bearable in the summer without those misters cooling things down. But maybe they don’t consider water a chemical?

        • @Modern_medicine_isnt
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          47 hours ago

          Nah, cause the intent is to make more money. Just happens to be by making customers more comfortable, which also just happens to be by adding moisture to the air. See, it’s a law designed to do nothing. Florida tax dollars hard at work.

      • @SendMePhotos
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        717 hours ago

        That’s kind of dumb, no? Because what if we need weather control to reduce the fucking temperature?!

      • @Sterile_Technique
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        418 hours ago

        That said, there is a real uncertainty about the side effects of may experimental geoengineering techniques, so some regulation is probably in order. Preferable not from Republicans for ignorant or bad faith reasons though.

        Well, there’s relative certainty that the absence of major geoengineering will result in climate destabilization not compatible with human life, so, we’re like half a century overdue for worrying about how to tackle this in a controlled fashion.

        We’re in the press-buttons-in-a-pure-state-of-panic-and-fucking-hope-one-of-them-fixes-something phase of climate science.

        Worse case scenario, we majorly fuck up and our corpses crisp up slightly faster than the track we’re on now. Fuck it. Might as well try.

      • IninewCrow
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        19 hours ago

        Cruise ships will have to shut off their engines 200miles from shore and coast in with their engines turned off … don’t know how they will leave port tho? … rowing like a Roman Trireme maybe?

        • @[email protected]
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          517 hours ago

          No, because the bill only forbids emissions made for the express purpose of changing the weather. Cruise ship emissions, they’ll argue, are done for the purpose of making the ship go.

        • partial_accumen
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          719 hours ago

          … rowing like a Roman Trireme maybe?

          How else are cruise ship guests going to work off the all-you-can-eat ice cream bar available 24/7 on the lido deck?

        • @[email protected]
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          218 hours ago

          Human breathing lets out CO2, a known greenhouse chemical.

          So to be safe, just stop the breathing of everyone.

    • @kometes
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      619 hours ago

      They’re going after people who plant trees…