What exactly is the “chemtrails” conspiracy?
I’m Steve Vasquez for Uproxx, and you’ve
probably noticed these white streaks in the sky.
They’re clouds of water vapor that form
when the warm exhaust of a plane’s engine
encounters cold temperatures in the upper atmosphere.
But some people think there’s a lot more
to the story.
Conspiracy theorists call these chemtrails, and believe the government is spraying chemicals
into the atmosphere in order to control the weather and population - a practice they call
“geoengineering.”
Many theorists cite the sudden appearance and disappearance of the trails as proof that
something is going on.
You'll see a plane like there flying normal and then all of a sudden it starts spraying.
However, scientists overwhelmingly agree
theres no substance to the theory, and say that these
condensation trails appear and disappear based
on the moisture content in the air.
When atmosphere is very dry the streak is shorter and it disappears.
But, believers say the theory explains a lot, like increases in violence.
And believers even include celebrities–like Prince, who spoke about the theory in a 2009 interview:
When I was a kid I used to see these trails in the sky all the time and
would say oh that's cool a jet just went by and then you started to see a whole bunch of them.
And the next thing you know everybody in your neighborhood  was fighting and arguing and you didn't know why.
Ok, and you really didn't know why. I mean everybody was fighting.
And Kylie Jenner famously tweeted out an image speculating that chemtrails might have something
to do with the population decline in honey
bees.
The theories persist, in large part, because they spread online. But some conspiracists admit it’s hard to
tell the difference between fact and fiction. One such woman was left questioning her beliefs after seeing a video debunking the theory.
With so much information out there, conspiracy theories are bound to gain traction. So… how can we know the truth from the lies?
I’m Steve Vasquez, and you’re watching
UPROXX.
