Researcher ORCID Identifier

0009-0004-3676-0148

Graduation Year

2025

Document Type

Open Access Senior Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts

Department

Anthropology

Second Department

Environmental Analysis

Reader 1

Professor Claudia Strauss

Reader 2

Professor Jo Ann Wang

Reader 3

Professor Eduard Fanthome

Terms of Use & License Information

Terms of Use for work posted in Scholarship@Claremont.

Rights Information

© 2025 Rachel A Rowlee

Abstract

Cloud seeding is a form of weather modification intended to increase the amount of precipitation by introducing a seeding agent. The Santa Ana Watershed Project Authority (SAWPA) has implemented a four-year cloud seeding pilot program utilizing silver iodide as a seeding agent during rain storm events. Over the last year, SAWPA received various feedback, much of which exists in the social media realm. This research consists of open-ended interviews with water resource managers, SAWPA employees, and individuals expressing disapproval of the program on social media and Instagram comment analyses. Interview and comment analyses are put into conversation with the theory of sensemaking developed by Weick (1995) to analyze the development and reinforcement of individual perceptions and their existence in a larger sociocultural and sociopolitical context. Within this research, analysis of the labeling of individuals as "conspiracy theorists" is revealed to perpetuate mistrust of authority further. Various definitions of technopolitics are used to understand the role of technopolitical devices in producing forms of agency in the context of SAWPA’s Cloud Seeding Pilot Program. This thesis provides insights into the continuation of the program's public outreach and public communications processes through enlisting the framework of non-technical infrastructure, or communications and outreach infrastructure development and improvements, as a suggested approach. This research thus contributes to the limited research on perceptions of cloud seeding operations, particularly ground-based operations. The conclusions of this research emphasize the importance of conducting further research on individualized perceptions and public perceptions of such operations.

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