Fertilizing The Ocean – Great Idea or Eco Disaster?
Can selling carbon credits to finance “ocean fertilization” solve global warming?
Greenpeace calls it “irresponsible” but, a variety of companies including, Climos, a San Francisco start-up, have raised a enough venture capital to give it a try. By drizzling an iron slurry across a stretch of ocean the company will leave a bloom of phytoplankton in its wake and hopefully take a small step toward solving global warming.
- » See also: Alaskan High School Students Document Global Warming Effects
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It may work, it may not. Experts are divided but, what is certain is that it is a catchy idea and there’s money to be made, which of course, worries environmentalists.
Ouch. Environmentalists are suddenly anti-money? Nice sweeping generalization. The problem with the ocean seeding idea is that once again some miracle fix has been sold as the perfect answer, with no drawbacks:
So you get a bloom of phytoplankton that “sucks up” carbon.
What happens when that phytoplankton dies?
Can this algae bloom live forever without further nutrient fertilization?
If not, what happens when all this phytoplankton dies?
What about the other ocean creatures that needed the sunlight that the phytoplankton used?
I don’t know the answers to all these questions, and don’t pretend to. I’m also smart enough to realize that any “environmentalist” concept that isn’t economically feasible in application isn’t worth pursuing. The problem with this type of thinking is that it entices the masses, with no thought necessary. These one paragraph solutions are just this decade’s snake oil.
Please, think about what you do before you do it (or even write about it). Give me some answers to these questions and I might really think about something like this, but all you have presented here is Propaganda.
You better hope that the phytoplankton die, b/c they take carbon dioxide with them as they sink below the thermocline. sequestered at depth, the carbon taken with the detritus will stay locked in the ocean for thousands of years. thats the general idea, anyway, and its been tested and measured more than a dozen times in peer reviewed experiments.
Mike,
Fair comments and you echo my thoughts exactly! This is one of those cases where It’s tough, for the ordinary person, to separate the science from the hype.
I’m hoping we are raising awareness of what is going on so that better minds than mine can start to sort this out and help us to understand the issues.
This is a story I will be watching and hopefully will be able to help write about again.