The latest idea for sinking our excess CO2 is adding lime to the oceans (the mineral, not the fruit). The idea here is that increasing the alkalinity of the oceans would not only increase CO2 capture but also mitigate the problem of acidification. You'ld also try to get the lime from somewhere that the CO2 involved in creating and transporting it would be less than what you capture.What's most interesting about this "fix of the week" is that Cquestrate is trying to run this as an Open Source project. You too can help figure out where and how to drop the lime. The Slashdotters have already claimed most of the good jokes, so time for you engineers to dive and be part of the solution. It'll be just like Firefox. Tweet
1 comment:
I'm surprised that, on an ocean health blog,such an important issue can go so long without comment. This is a huge issue.
there is a slow train (40 to 50 years long) that is carrying 'fossil water' that is increasingly rich in CO2 and very low in bioavailable calcium. This water is more acidic each year due to the history of atmospheric CO2 deposition increases. The tail end of the train of slow moving current is now richer in CO2 than the head of the current that is welling up off of the Oregon coast.
Each year it appears to affect progressively shallower water onto the continental shelf. Acidification of water close to our shores will likely cause a host of biochemical changes that will be an big challenge for the existing biota to adapt to. This is an emergency. We need concerted effort from all fronts to try to understand this new information.
We need to quickly get a grasp of the magnitude of the problems before we seriously propose massive disruptive or simplistic solutions that have their own dangers... but never the less, we can no longer stick our heads in the sand and carry on as usual.
Ray Kinney
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