What is cloud seeding and is it actually bad for the environment

Rain is one of the most obvious factors on which we as humans are dependent on. It is one of the most important means of livelihood which is why we shouldn’t take it for granted. Our world has suffered greatly due to global warming, of which we are responsible as well. But we are also responsible for the great technological experiments that have become quite successful and cloud seeding is one of them.

Now, what is cloud seeding? In simple words it is a technique used to artificially pull rain. A man-made phenomenon that can modify the weather as per need and desired. The way it works is by injecting sprinkles of salt-like iodine and chlorine into the clouds using a special aircraft or rocket. These particles act as a cloud-condensing-nuclei and attract vapour into the clouds creating moisture that condense into water droplets that finally convert into raindrops.

Of course, rain is very important if creating man-made rain can be questionable. It is well-known that messing with nature can be very dangerous. Injecting chemicals into a cloud can be quite risky considering it’s a natural source of rain. Since, cloud seeding is not something that has been done on a large scale so the rate of its success is still unknown.

It may lead to climate change even further. Even though cloud seeding is well-researched on and a lot of technicalities have been taken into consideration, its nature all the end of the day. Modifying it in the way humans want is one, selfish and two very dangerous. Another drawback is we cannot control the weather once the particles are infused. It can possibly rain a lot or not rain at all. It may lead to drought or may also lead to flooding. This, in a way is putting living organisms in a risk, risk of unknown climate.

If at all, it is successful, it still requires high amount of investment. It would cost a lot and investing something that is available as a gift in abundance is something not a lot of people would be interested in. Instead let’s make it happen the natural way. Global warming happened because of us, so global betterment is also in our hands. Small gestures and a responsible attitude of every citizen can change a lot.