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*Corresponding author: E-mail: mherndon@san.rr.com;
Asian Journal of Biology
8(4): 1-13, 2019; Article no.AJOB.53746
ISSN: 2456-7124
Unacknowledged Potential Factors in Catastrophic
Bat Die-off Arising from Coal Fly Ash
Geoengineering
J. Marvin Herndon
1*
and Mark Whiteside
2
1
Transdyne Corporation, 11044 Red Rock Drive, San Diego, CA 92131, USA.
2
Florida Department of Health in Monroe County, 1100 Simonton Street, Key West, FL 33040, USA.
Authors’ contributions
This work was a joint effort between the authors that is part of an ongoing collaboration
aimed at providing scientific, medical, public health implications and evidence related to
aerosolized coal fly ash including its use in the near-daily, near-global covert geoengineering
activity. Author JMH was primary responsible for geophysical and mineralogical
considerations. Author MW was primarily responsible for medical and public health
considerations. Both authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Article Information
DOI: 10.9734/AJOB/2019/v8i430067
Editor(s):
(1) Dr. P. Dhasarathan, Department of Biotechnology, Prathyusha Engineering College, Anna University, India.
(2)
Dr. Paola Angelini, Department of Chemistry, Biology and Biotechnology, University of Perugia, Perugia, Italy.
Reviewers:
(1)
Antipas T. S. Massawe, University of Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania.
(2)
S. Basavarajappa, University of Mysore, India.
(3)
Sie Long Kek, Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia, Malaysia.
(4)
Orchidea Maria Lecian, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy.
(5) Peter Stallinga, University of Algarve, Portugal.
Complete Peer review History:
http://www.sdiarticle4.com/review-history/53746
Received 05 November 2019
Accepted 10 January 2020
Published 15 January 2020
ABSTRACT
Bats have great economic and environmental importance, including nocturnal insect control,
pollination, seed dispersal and forest regeneration. Bats, however, like insects and birds are
suffering a precipitous global decline due to anthropogenic causes. Deliberate air pollution in the
form of undisclosed tropospheric aerosol geoengineering (TAG) has extremely damaging effects
throughout the biosphere. Forensic scientific evidence implicates coal fly ash (CFA), the toxic waste
product of coal-burning, as the main constituent of the jet-sprayed particulate trails seen around the
world. Coal fly ash is a primary source of the ultrafine and nano-sized particulate fraction of air
Review Article
Herndon and Whiteside; AJOB, 8(4): 1-13, 2019; Article no.AJOB.53746
2
pollution that adversely impacts human and environmental health. Recently, countless exogenous
magnetic pollution particles from combustion sources were found in human brains and heart tissue.
Previous studies reveal that aerosolized CFA is a significant factor in the catastrophic global decline
of birds and insects. Insects can accumulate aerosolized CFA on their body surfaces and/or ingest
CFA particulates that insectivorous bats then consume. Bats are excellent mammalian bioindicators
of environmental contaminants and it is known that their tissue contains high levels of metals and
persistent organic pollutants. From a review of the literature, we show that the pollutant element
ratios in bat tissue and bat guano are consistent with an origin in CFA-type air pollution. These
findings suggest that CFA, including its use in covert climate engineering operations, is an
unacknowledged factor in the morbidity and mortality of bats. Bats, therefore, are an important
"canary in the coal mine" pointing to the urgency of halting covert climate engineering and greatly
reducing ultrafine particulate air pollution.
Keywords: White-nose syndrome; aerosol particulates; coal fly ash; particulate pollution; global
warming.
1. INTRODUCTION
In her 1962 seminal book Silent Spring [1],
Rachel Carson (1907-1964) challenged the
widely held, but the unrealistically-arrogant
perception that humans could master nature
through the use of chemicals. Her revelations of
the harmful consequences of dichloro-diphenyl-
trichloroethane (DDT) and other pesticides
helped to spawn the modern environmental
movement [2].
In less than two decades, a new and far more
pervasive environmental threat arose that was
orchestrated and perpetrated, not by the
chemical industry, but by international
governance seeking “improvement of the
environment” through use of “environmental
modification techniques” which refers to “any
technique for changing – through the deliberate
manipulation of natural processes – the
dynamics, composition or structure of the Earth,
including its biota, lithosphere, hydrosphere and
atmosphere, or of outer space” [3], which
hereafter we refer to as “geoengineering”.
Rachel Carson benefitted from highly
cooperative and favourable mainstream media
attention, including the serialization of her book
by The New Yorker magazine and a Columbia
Broadcasting System (CBS) Reports exposé [4].
In striking contrast, the pervasive environmental
geoengineering threat, for more than a decade,
undertaken with increasing scope, intensity, and
geographical range to become a near-daily,
near-global activity, has been accompanied by
concerted efforts to mislead the public [5-7] and
the scientific community [8,9] and to hide the
public health risks [10,11].
There is deployment-evidence of one
geoengineering activity aimed at melting glacial
ice [12,13], however, the most widely observed
geoengineering-evidence involves the jet-
spraying of pollution particulates into the
troposphere [14-17] which alter climate/weather
and cause global warming [18]. Geoengineering
aerial particulate trails, shown in Fig. 1, rapidly
spread out, briefly appearing like cirrus clouds,
before becoming a white haze in the sky [19,20].
Gravity and atmospheric convection disperse the
aerial-particulates throughout the lower
atmosphere, mixing with the air that biota,
including humans, breathe, and ultimately
settling to ground in a matter of days to weeks
[21].
Geoengineering jet-laid particulate trails are not
to be confused with “contrails”, which
occasionally form from engine-exhaust moisture
under unusually cold, humid conditions and
which evaporate quickly becoming invisible gas
[22]. There are, however, concerted efforts to
deceive the public into falsely believing that the
deliberately emplaced particulate trails are ice-
crystal contrails [5,8].
Pollution particles in the troposphere are heated
by solar radiation and by radiation from Earth.
That heat is transferred to the atmosphere by
molecular collisions, which reduces the
temperature difference relative to the surface air.
The reduction in adverse temperature gradient
reduces atmospheric convection and
concomitantly reduces convective heat loss from
the surface [23-25]. The pollution-particles jet-
sprayed into the troposphere cause global
and/or regional warming, and cause climate
chaos, disrupting natural weather patterns,
potentially causing either droughts or
deluges, corrupting natural habitats, harming
agriculture, and poisoning the environment
[19,20,26].
Herndon and Whiteside; AJOB, 8(4): 1-13, 2019; Article no.AJOB.53746
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In a manner more fundamental than Carson [1],
James E. Lovelock and Lynn Margulis [27-31]
developed the Gaia theory, which in essence
describes the realm of inextricable and complex
interrelationships by and between the living
matter of Earth and the physical states and
conditions of Earth’s various environments.
Within the Gaia understanding, any
“environmental modification”, i.e.
geoengineering, especially deliberately emplaced
aerosol particulate pollution, is bound to have
unanticipated, severe, and greater adverse
consequences for life on Earth, analogous to, but
far more devastating, than the pesticides
disclosed by Carson [1].
Air pollution particles have devastating
consequences for human health, including being
the leading environmental cause of morbidity and
mortality worldwide [32,33]. Air pollution
particulates penetrate deep into lungs and
systemic circulation, and contribute to stroke and
neurodegenerative disease [34-36], heart
disease [37,38], lung cancer [39], COPD [40,41],
respiratory infections [42,43], and asthma
[44,45].
Spherical magnetite particulates have been
found in the brains of persons with dementia [35].
Recently, reactive iron magnetic particulates
were found in abundance in the hearts of
persons from highly polluted areas [37].
Air pollution particulates are risk factors for
children having cognitive defects [46,47], for
cognitive decline at all ages [48], for cognitive
decline in older women [49], and Alzheimer's
Dementia later in life [48].
Consistent with the Gaia theory of Lovelock and
Margulis [27-31], the near-daily, near-global
ongoing tropospheric particulate-emplacement is
expected to have severely adverse
consequences throughout the biosphere. The
evidence of those severely adverse
consequences is unambiguous, specifically in
connection with the globally-catastrophic demise
of insects [50], birds [51], forests [52], and the
proliferation of harmful algae [53].
Geoengineering is an activity that poisons
the planet with mercury [20], damages the
ozone layer that shields life from harmful
solar ultraviolet radiation [54-57], exacerbates
wildfires [19], and does yet untold damage to
the web of life on Earth through the
disruption of habitats and food sources caused
by geoengineered climate chaos
[19,58-61]. Indeed, altering global weather
patterns could potentially imperil global food
supplies [62].
Bats (order Chiroptera) are the most widely
distributed terrestrial mammals, comprising
nearly 20% of mammalian species, or about
1400 species to date. Bats have great economic
importance, with ecosystem services including
nocturnal insect control, pollination, seed
dispersal, and forest regeneration. Bat
populations are now in serious decline [63], just
as are bird [64] and insect [65] populations. Data
now indicate that over ⅓ of bat species are
threatened, with populations of an additional ½
either unknown or declining, indicating that at
least 80% of bat species now require attention
and conservation efforts [63]. Here we review
unacknowledged potentially major contributory
factors in global catastrophic bat die-off that arise
from the use and consequences of aerosolized
CFA for covert weather and climate
manipulation.
2. OVERVIEW OF BAT DECLINE
Global threats to bats are directly related to
increasing human populations that bring extra
demands for land, food, and resources leading to
degradation or destruction of habitats for bats.
Pressures of deforestation, development, and
climate change are felt most acutely in tropical
regions of the world which hold the greatest
diversity of bat species [66]. Threats to bats can
be ranked into categories that include invasive
species, disease, energy production, biological
resource use, agricultural practices,
development, pollution, and climate change. For
most bat species, the impact of pollution and
climate change is largely unknown due to lack of
sufficient study or understanding of these issues
[67]. An extensive literature review reveals that
no one has addressed the implications of
ongoing geoengineering on bat morbidity and
mortality.
A global review of multiple mortality events
(MME's) in bats reveals that before the year
2000, persecution and intentional killing by
humans caused the greatest proportion of MME's
in bats. Intentional killing of bats occurred in
South America for vampire bat control, in Asia
and Australia for fruit depredation control, and in
Africa and Asia for human food. Historically,
abiotic and biotic causes and accidents were
also responsible for bat mortality. However, there
Herndon and Whiteside; AJOB, 8(4): 1-13, 2019; Article no.AJOB.53746
4
Fig. 1. From [23]. Geoengineering particulate trails with photographers’ permission. Clockwise
from upper left: Soddy-Daisy, Tennessee, USA (David Tulis); Reiat, Switzerland (Rogerio
Camboim SA); Warrington, Cheshire, UK (Catherine Singleton); Alderney, UK looking toward
France (Neil Howard); Luxembourg (Paul Berg); New York, New York, USA (Mementosis)
was a major shift in MME's in bats around the
year 2000 – when mortality from industrial wind-
power facilities and emerging diseases like
white-nose syndrome became important causes
of MME's. The majority of reported MME's
continue to be anthropogenic in origin, with an
expected sharp increase in bat mortality from
pollution and climate change, e.g. heatwaves,
storms, flooding, and drought [68], which to a
great extent are consequences of ongoing
tropospheric geoengineering that causes global
warming and weather-chaos [23,26]. For
example, mass die-offs of pteropodid bats like
the Australian flying foxes due to temperature
extremes over 42ºC have now been documented
[69].
Although bats are ecologically diverse, with a
range of species specializing in feeding on fruit,
nectar, blood, fish and even small mammals –
the large majority of bats are insectivorous. The
drastic global decline in insect populations
portends a sharp reduction in food supply for
most bats [65]. This reduction in insect biomass
at ground level leads to less availability and
quality of insects in the aerosphere, resulting in
higher search efforts and increased energy
expenditure by bats. This is particularly true in
modern industrialized countries, where insect
biomass is sharply decreasing and it may
become critical for open-space foraging bats.
Particulate pollution from all sources, including
geoengineering, is principally responsible for
global warming and climate change [18,24,
25,70]. Global climate is likely to change the
phenology, intensity, and directions of large-
scale insect migration patterns, with potentially
Herndon and Whiteside; AJOB, 8(4): 1-13, 2019; Article no.AJOB.53746
5
serious consequences for bats as insect
consumers [71]. Climate change alters the
emergence patterns of bats, the timing of which
must be balanced among predation risk,
competition, and foraging opportunities [72].
Widespread use of insecticides and insect-
resistant crops contributes to both to decreased
insect abundance and chemical poisoning of bats
[63]. Our work suggests that most of the
remaining insects have been contaminated by
toxic elements contained in CFA, the toxic
waste product of coal-burning which is widely
utilized in environmental modification, weather
modification, and climate engineering [50].
3. AIR POLLUTION – CFA
When coal is burned, the heavy ash settles
beneath the burner, while the light ash, called
CFA, condenses and accumulates in the hot
gases above the burner, producing the
characteristic spherical shape of CFA particles
that result from the surface tension of the melt
[73].
Coal fly ash is a cheap and abundant waste
product that requires little additional processing
for use in undisclosed tropospheric aerosol
geoengineering operations. Forensic scientific
evidence implicates aerosolized CFA as the main
constituent of the jet-sprayed particulate trails
now observed on a near-daily, near-global basis
[26].
Coal fly ash particulate pollution in the
troposphere mixes with the air we all breathe and
is toxic to nearly all biota, including humans [74].
We have shown that aerosolized CFA, evidenced
as used for covert geoengineering operations
[20,26,52], is an unacknowledged factor in the
catastrophic global die-off of trees [52], insects
[50] and birds [51], as well as in the proliferation
of harmful algae [53].
CFA is a primary source of ultrafine and nano-
sized (<0.1 µm) air pollution particles that affect
human and environmental health [75]. Emissions
of CFA from Western power plants, unlike many
in China and India, are reduced by the use of
electrostatic precipitators or filters, but the
collection efficiency of these technologies is
lowest for ultrafine and nanoparticles [76]. The
primary elements in CFA are oxides of silicon,
aluminium, iron, and calcium, with lesser
amounts of magnesium, sulfur, sodium, chlorine,
and potassium. Trace elements in CFA include
arsenic, barium, cadmium, chromium, lead,
mercury, nickel, selenium, strontium, titanium,
and the radionuclides uranium, thorium and their
daughter products. CFA contains unconsumed
carbon (soot) and small amounts of polycyclic
hydrocarbons [77,78].
4. BAT CONTAMINATION BY
EXPOSURE TO CFA
There are several ways bats may be exposed to
the toxins of aerosolized CFA. Nano-particulates
of CFA can directly enter bat bodies through
respiration or trans-dermally as they can in
humans [36,39,40]. Additionally, the metals of
CFA can be partially extracted by water [79],
including extraction by body-moisture in vivo or
by atmospheric moisture that ultimately can
contaminate bats’ drinking-water sources.
Moreover and perhaps most significantly, insects
can accumulate aerosolized CFA on their body
surfaces and/or ingest CFA particulates [80-83]
that insectivorous bats then consume.
Evidence indicates that bat activity and
population diversity are affected by air pollution.
Higher bat flight activity and higher bat
population diversity are found at less disturbed
and polluted forest areas compared to urban
areas with heavy industrial pollution [84]. The
increasingly large amounts of combustion-type
pollution particles released into the atmosphere
appear to harm the specialized respiratory
organs and high metabolism of foraging bats
[71].
Bat navigation is dominated by echolocation, but
other modalities, including an iron/magnetic
sensory system, are essential to the bat’s
familiarity with the terrain [85]. Recent evidence
supports the contention that bats use magnetite
(Fe
3
O
4
) particles located in their heads for
sensing and orientation in the Earth’s magnetic
field [86]. Countless combustion-derived
exogenous magnetic pollution particles have
been found in brains of humans with dementia
that match the spherical magnetite nanoparticles
in CFA [35,36]. Presumably, exposure to
exogenous magnetite nano-particles from CFA-
type air pollution can impair the bat’s magnetic
sense and navigation.
Metal contamination is an important
environmental stressor that has been implicated
as a factor in the global decline of bats.
Traditionally cited anthropogenic sources of
metal pollutants include combustion-type air
pollution, industrial run-off, and contaminated
food and water sources [87]. The year-after-year,
Herndon and Whiteside; AJOB, 8(4): 1-13, 2019; Article no.AJOB.53746
6
Fig. 2. Average metallic composition of insectivorous male bat livers expressed as ratios for
comparison with corresponding ratios from average bat guano, snow mould and CFA samples
near-daily, near-global atmospheric pollution for
geoengineering environmental modification,
evidenced as CFA, must now be seen as a major
factor in the global decline of bats.
Bats are excellent bio-indicators for metal
pollution because of their longevity, their high
trophic level, and their frequent association with
man. The elemental composition of bat guano
reflects the undigested portion of ingested prey
and can provide clues as to the source of the
pollution [88]. Fig. 2 shows the similarity of
average metallic element compositions
determined from male insectivorous bat livers
and bat guano with corresponding average
element ratios of laboratory CFA [79] and
aerosolized CFA that was trapped by
snowflakes, brought down, subsequently
released upon partial melting and re-trapped on
underlying snow mould [51,52]. Not all element
ratios were determined in each of the four data
sources. For the 9 instances of element ratios
from all four data sources, at a 95% confidence
interval, each individual data-source value was
not significantly different, as determined
statistically using the student t-test.
Metals in bats tend to accumulate in internal
organs including the liver and kidney. The effect
of multiple pollutants including metals in bats and
their interaction with other environmental
stressors remains largely unexplored [88].
Documented effects of heavy metals in bats
include hepatopathy, DNA damage,
hemochromatosis, and neurological disease.
Eleven metals: arsenic, cadmium, cobalt,
chromium, copper, mercury, manganese, nickel,
lead, tin, and thallium (all trace elements in CFA)
are known to be potentially toxic to mammals
including bats [89]. Cadmium, lead, and mercury
are among the most commonly reported
elements associated with toxicity in bats [90].
Mercury contamination of the environment is one
of the consequences of aerosolized CFA used
for geoengineering [20]. Mercury is one of the
elemental contaminants of California pacific
coastal fog [91,92]. Other elemental
contaminants of California pacific coastal fog
were found to be consistent with CFA
contamination [52]. Recent investigations of a
limited number of species demonstrated that
pacific coastal biota had significantly greater
mercury content than comparable species from
inland areas not exposed to the coastal fog [93].
Although bats were not included in that study,
they should be for future investigations.
Bats are important bio-indicators for
environmental contaminants other than metals. A
wide range of contaminants of emerging concern
was found in the tissue of bats from the
northeastern United States, with the suggestion
that these contaminants of emerging concern
have the potential to affect physiological function
in bats, including hibernation, immune function,
Herndon and Whiteside; AJOB, 8(4): 1-13, 2019; Article no.AJOB.53746
7
and response to white-nose syndrome [94]. High
concentrations of persistent organic pollutants,
including polychlorinated biphenyls,
polybrominated diphenyl ethers, polybrominated
biphenyls and organochlorine pesticides were
found in the fatty tissue of little brown bats
(Myotis lucifugus) with white-nose syndrome in
New York [95]. Significant levels of both trace
metals (e.g. Ag, Cd, Co, Hg, Pb, Se, V, and Zn)
and organochlorine contaminants were
measured in carcasses of southern bent-wing
bats (Miniopterus sp.) in southeastern Australia
[96]. Note that CFA contains significant amounts
of persistent organic pollutants, including
polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and
polychlorinated biphenyls [77,78].
5. WHITE NOSE SYNDROME IN BATS
White-nose syndrome (WNS) is a newly
emerged disease that potentially threatens all
temperate bat species. White-nose syndrome is
caused by the pathogenic fungus
Pseudogymnoascus destructans and it has
decimated the populations of several hibernating
North American bats. First discovered in 2006 in
New York State, W NS spread rapidly across the
eastern U.S. and has caused population
collapses of certain bats; e.g. it is predicted to
lead to the regional extinction of the little brown
bat (Myotis lucifugus), previously one of the most
common bats in North America [97]. White-nose
is a cold-loving fungus that grows on the
exposed skin surfaces (including snout, ears,
and wing membranes) of affected bats during
hibernation. Disease manifestations of White
Nose include depletion of fat reserves,
dehydration, premature arousal from hibernation,
and ulcerated and necrotic wing lesions.
Bat metabolism and the animal's immune
response are reduced during hibernation. Further
immune suppression may result from other
causes including chemical/heavy metal
contamination. As bats are known to harbour
high levels of chemical toxins, further studies
are needed to assess the impact of this toxicity
on the bat's immune system [98]. During
arousal from hibernation, the sudden reversal of
immune suppression associated with
euthermia can lead to a paradoxical worsening of
the white-nose fungal infection, so-called
immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome
[99].
As noted above, the Gaia theory, developed by
James E. Lovelock and Lynn Margulis [27-31], in
essence, describes the realm of inextricable and
complex interrelationships by and between the
living matter of Earth and the physical states and
conditions of Earth's various environments.
Upsetting that delicate balance may have
unforeseen consequences. For example, we
have shown that the addition of iron to the
marine environment can shift the global plankton
balance favouring harmful over beneficial algae
[53]. White Nose Syndrome seems to have
emerged and proliferated at the same time that
aerial particulate geoengineering accelerated in
range, scope, and intensity, suggesting the
possibility that causal relationships might be
discovered.
6. IRON TOXICITY IN BATS
Among the metals detected in bat tissues like
liver and kidney, iron is usually found at very high
levels [88]. Iron is an essential element for
mammals and other living creatures but it is one
that requires strict balance. Iron imbalance, or
altered iron homeostasis, results from excessive
or misplaced reactive iron in the body, promoting
a wide variety of diseases [100].
Captive Egyptian fruit bats (Rousettus
aegyptiacus) frequently develop iron storage
disease associated with increased infection rates
and cancer, including hepatocellular carcinoma
[101]. There is recent evidence that
environmental pollutants (including persistent
organic pollutants and metals) disrupt iron
homeostasis, producing adverse biological
effects [102].
Detection of fungal iron-gathering siderophores
on the wings of bats with WNS suggests that
these molecules play a role in infection and/or
tissue invasion [103]. In mammals, iron-rich
brown fat has a limited distribution in the body
and is involved in thermoregulatory processes. In
hibernating bats, thermogenesis by brown fat is
necessary for both arousal and maintenance of
hibernation [104].
It was recently discovered that the ferritin heavy-
heart (FHH) chain component of ferritin (the main
iron storage protein) acts as a master regulator
of organismal iron homeostasis, coupling
nutritional iron supply to redox homeostasis,
energy expenditure, and thermoregulation [105].
Bats rely on brown adipose tissue for energy,
and feeding on highly contaminated insect prey
is likely to change the fatty acid profile in
this particular bat tissue, with effects on
mitochondrial functioning, torpor, and energy
usage [106].
Herndon and Whiteside; AJOB, 8(4): 1-13, 2019; Article no.AJOB.53746
8
Further verification of the data from our review of
CFA-type pollutants in bats should be obtained
from bat samples in various habitats from widely
separated geographical areas. Living bats do not
need to be sacrificed for these studies. Tissue for
element sampling can be obtained from bats
killed in mass mortality events. Guano samples
tend to contain the same heavy metals detected
in analyzed bat tissue [88]. The fur is another
non-invasive proxy that can be used to monitor
metal contamination in bats. Furthermore, fur
analyses are capable of yielding data on the
recent, long term, and chronic metal exposure
[107].
7. CONCLUSION
Air pollution is the leading environmental cause
of disease and death in the human population.
Deliberate air pollution in the form of “covert”
tropospheric aerosol geoengineering produces
damaging effects throughout the biosphere. Jet-
sprayed particulate trails bear the clear footprint
of CFA, the highly toxic waste product of coal
burning. Coal fly ash, including its use in climate
engineering operations, has contributed to the
catastrophic global loss of trees, insects, birds
and other living things. The recent finding of
countless exogenous, spherical, magnetic
nanoparticles in the brain and hearts of persons
living in highly polluted areas provides definite
evidence of the near-universal exposure of
humans to the combustion products of fossil
fuels, including CFA.
Bats have great economic and environmental
importance, including nocturnal insect control,
pollination, seed dispersal, and forest
regeneration. Bats, however, are suffering a
precipitous global decline due to multiple
anthropogenic causes. Bats are extremely
important mammalian bio-indicators of
environmental contamination. They are exposed
to environmental contaminants from food and
water sources as well as air pollution. Bats are
known to have high levels of heavy metals and
persistent organic pollutants in their tissue. This
work suggests that element ratios in bat tissue
and bat guano are consistent with their origin in
CFA. These findings provide yet another
ominous sign that CFA, including its use in
climate engineering, poses a dire threat to the
entire web of life on Earth.
Immediate steps that must be taken include
(1) a halt to global “hidden in plain sight”
tropospheric aerosol geoengineering, (2) the
reduction of harmful combustion-type
nanoparticle emissions and (3) the development
of international programs to quantify, monitor,
and regulate ultrafine particulate air pollution.
Bats are an important “canary in the coal mine”
telling us these steps constitute a moral
imperative if we and our children are to have a
viable future.
DISCLAIMER
The products used for this research are
commonly and predominantly use products in our
area of research and country. There is absolutely
no conflict of interest between the authors and
producers of the products because we do not
intend to use these products as an avenue for
any litigation but for the advancement of
knowledge. Also, the research was not funded by
the producing company rather it was funded by
personal efforts of the authors.
COMPETING INTERESTS
Authors have declared that no competing
interests exist.
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