I recently joined a local field naturalist club (not field naturist, these people their clothes on). I might be the youngest person in the group but everyone seems very knowledgeable, gentle and eager to be involved. The last two points came to the fore last night when a woman began circulating a petition demanding that the Canadian government stop secretly releasing unknown contaminants via chemtrails and to tell us what is in these chemtrails and the group’s president politely let the signing go on (without once offering support for the position).
Briefly, chemtrails are visible evidence of chemicals being released in high atmosphere from jet aircraft. These are in addition to (probably) harmless contrails that jets make under the right conditions.
I thought it was a crazy conspiracy theory until I woke up this morning and looked out the window!
Now, …
I still think it is a crazy conspiracy theory. Well, there is a broad umbrella of chemtrail conspiracy theories: The chemicals are designed to reflect sunlight back to space to cool the Earth, the chemicals are used to control human behavior, or, my favorite, are used, in connection with electro-magnetic waves, to power and focus high-energy particle weapons.
Each idea is crazy and groundless, as Mythbusters, How Stuff Works, Al Gore and Wikipedia all try to explain.
I found an online version of a petition that looks similar to the one I was offered last night.
WE, the undersigned residents of Canada draw the attention of the House to the following:
THAT high altitude aerial spraying has been observed occurring over Canada; from British Columbia to Newfoundland; for at least the last two years;
THAT this aerial spraying has been carried out by large military type jet aircraft that create white plumes which evidence suggests are chemical-laden (hereinafter “chemtrails”) and often seen in the form of large “X’s”, “O’s” and checkerboard patterns;
THAT this aerial spraying has been carried out without the knowledge or consent of the Canadian electorate;
THAT chemtrails in the atmosphere across Canada can only adversely affect the health of our population, especially children;
THAT Canadians have the inalienable right not to be sprayed with massive amounts of chemicals from the sky for whatever purpose;
Note the absolute confidence that the writer has that these contrails are carrying deliberately-added and dangerous chemicals and that the Canadian government must be aware of, if not behind it all.
One neurologist claims to have evidence of damage from aluminum nanoparticles. I think he really does show that such particles are dangerous but note in his references he has nothing that ties them to high altitude release via chemtrails.
I tagged this post as ‘hoax’ but is that correct? ’Innocently wrong’ isn’t specific enough. The people at the meeting are not generally ignorant in scientific matters so the term doesn’t fit. ”Insufficiently skeptical” does, as perhaps “overly suspicious”. Such attitudes are also found in this video where a woman doesn’t think rainbows can happen anywhere but in the sky.
Tadpoles were everywhere and I think they might all have hatched at once. They were staying in brackish ponds that had some access to Georgian Bay water. I watched some minnows dart in, grab one and depart.
This is a Rock Harlequin and there were common on the thin soil on the rocks in the northern half of the island.
Beausoleil Island has some connection with Sainte Marie Among the Hurons, I think. When the Sainte Marie village closed, some local people moved here. The last burial was in 1927 so someone must still be visiting to care for this grave.
There were several other graves and the ages listed showed remarkable variety. Many had died tragically young – two years or ten months – while others lived incredibly long lives – 101 years is listed on one marker.
I don’t know what kind of salamander or newt this is and would love some assistance.
When we returned, I was exhausted and just rested. My son, on the other hand, went out to do some gardening.
