|
Showing 1 - 2 of
2 matches in All Departments
Weather control. Juxtaposing those two words is enough to raise
eyebrows in a world where even the best weather models still fail
to nail every forecast, and when the effects of climate change on
sea level height, seasonal averages of weather phenomena, and
biological behavior are being watched with interest by all,
regardless of political or scientific persuasion. But between the
late nineteenth century—when the United States first funded an
attempt to “shock” rain out of clouds—and the late 1940s,
rainmaking (as it had been known) became weather control. And then
things got out of control. In Make It Rain, Kristine C. Harper
tells the long and somewhat ludicrous history of state-funded
attempts to manage, manipulate, and deploy the weather in America.
Harper shows that governments from the federal to the local became
helplessly captivated by the idea that weather control could
promote agriculture, health, industrial output, and economic growth
at home, or even be used as a military weapon and diplomatic tool
abroad. Clear fog for landing aircraft? There’s a project for
that. Gentle rain for strawberries? Let’s do it! Enhanced
snowpacks for hydroelectric utilities? Check. The heyday of these
weather control programs came during the Cold War, as the
atmosphere came to be seen as something to be defended, weaponized,
and manipulated. Yet Harper demonstrates that today there are clear
implications for our attempts to solve the problems of climate
change.
Using newly declassified documents, this book explores why U.S.
military leaders after World War II sought to monitor the far north
and understand the physical environment of Greenland, a crucial
territory of Denmark. It reveals a fascinating yet little-known
realm of Cold War intrigue and a delicate diplomatic duet between a
smaller state and a superpower amid a time of intense global
pressures. Written by scholars in Denmark and the United States,
this book explores many compelling topics. What led to the creation
of the U.S. Thule Air Base in Greenland, one of the world's
largest, and why did the U.S. build a nuclear-powered city under
Greenland's ice cap? How did Danish concern about sovereignty shape
scientific research programs in Greenland? Also explored here: why
did Denmark's most famous scientist, Inge Lehmann, became involved
in research in Greenland, and what international reverberations
resulted from the crash of a U.S. B-52 bomber carrying four nuclear
weapons near Thule in January 1968?
|
You may like...
Tenet
John David Washington, Robert Pattinson
Blu-ray disc
(1)
R54
Discovery Miles 540
|