By: Hettie Basil Lighttower

When I was in middle school I recall the big campaigns about “do not litter” “Keep America Beautiful” in regards to pollution awareness. We also learned not to use hair spray so to not destroy the ozone layer. As a kid hearing about all this stuff I imagined that the ozone layer must be like a puffy blanket surrounding us all to keep our oxygen safe and in supply. Remember the music group Air Supply? That was my first concert. I really liked that group.
Anyway, back to our actual air supply…. To me, the ozone layer seemed so far away and what could one little can of hair spray do to something so far away. Besides, it was invisible. How could we possibly know it was being damaged and why was having pretty hair to blame. I literally was spraying it onto my head, inside my house, not up into the sky. I also didn’t have the concept about so many other girls doing the same thing and what vast numbers that might be.
I had a lot of questions. Nonetheless pump spray hair stiffeners became readily available and we all started using them. Seemed like it took forever to dry though. So, back to the hair dryer! Did we even have blow dryers yet? I can’t remember. I’ll have to investigate that next.
In 1974 I had a magical opportunity to go to Germany with my family. The one thing that stood out besides its obvious post-card-beauty everywhere is THERE WAS NO LITTER! Back in the states there was a lot of trash everywhere. I always wondered why Americans were so trashy. The Germans/Europeans had already mastered the art of cleaning up their streets and cities.
I spent a lot of time outdoors as most of us did in the 70’s and 80’s. Nature provided much entertainment and exploration opportunities. Have you ever watched an ant caravan? Fascinating. Or lifted a rock and found a salamander? Or weed a garden and found a bunny’s nest? How about spied on bee collecting pollen? Nature was my play ground. Going barefoot and outside was wonderful.
Eventually, along with the do not litter slogans came awareness about air pollution in general. So, now we were not only being told about the ozone layer but air pollution and the smoke and exhausts that cause it. One day I noticed an airplane in the sky. It was making a path of air pollution directly behind it. “Mom! Look at that! The airplanes are making most of the air pollution”, I said.
And so I began to pay attention to what was happening in the skies every time I heard a plane. Living near Pittsburgh Airport planes were a regular ongoing occurrence. And I thought wow, some really leave a trail and some do not. And I really liked using my aerosol hair spray. Why can’t I use that tiny bit of hair spray that goes on so fine and dries so quickly since all these planes are doing much more damage every day all day. It was much more than my couple of sprays once or twice a week!
Fast forward to the last 10 years. I have heard this term “conspiracy theorists”. Frankly, I think my grandfather got upset in the late 80’s about conspiracy accusations if I recall correctly. Anyway, some folks in recent years are saying that these trails behind the airplanes are called “chemtrails” short for chemical trails. And they theorize the airplanes are specifically designed to spray these chemical trails …..on purpose!
So, that made sense then to me why some planes leave all this behind them and others do not. I honestly just thought it was some polluted the air more than others. But why would this be deliberate? All of us have to life here. All the animals have to live here. All the plants and trees that provide our oxygen have to live here. It really didn’t make sense as to why this would even happen. Even if there was some evil doer who had money to do such things. Wouldn’t that hurt them as well? Don’t they have to live here too? I’m confused.
What exactly are chem trails and what are their purpose? I really do hope some of you write in and explain this all to me.
Of course I have researched some about this subject. There are scientists who have elaborate ways to test the air quality after a chem trail. It seems there are nano particles of aluminum, graphite and other micro plastics that are spreading everywhere onto our crops, trees, animals, insects, us, our water and air. How is this possible?
Some of these studies have shown this is the reason for certain trees dying, poor quality of food, stream lives being affected. It is difficult to wrap your head around.
What I can say is in my own experience of having spent so many hours, days, months and years outside and in the woods and the fields, the amount of butterflies and birds and salamanders(even turtles) are much much less than when I was a kid. It is so rare to see more than five butterflies in one day. Whereas before I would literally see 100s in a day. Help! What can we do? What is going on? Are chem trails the reason? What really are chem trails?
What are your thoughts about all this? Send in your notions and comments to [email protected]. Kindness is contagious~*