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Fertilizing The Ocean | Earth Wise

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There are a variety of schemes for removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.  Some require advanced and generally not-very-well developed technology.  Others, such as planting vast numbers of trees, are nature-based but are daunting with respect to the scale to which they need to take place in order to be truly effective.

Researchers at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, Washington have been examining the scientific evidence for seeding the oceans with iron-rich engineered fertilizer in order to feed phytoplankton.  Phytoplankton are microscopic plants that are a key part of the ocean ecosystem.

Phytoplankton take up carbon dioxide as they grow.  In nature, nutrients from the land end up in the ocean through rivers and from blowing dust.  These nutrients fertilize the plankton.  The idea is to augment these existing processes to increase the growth of phytoplankton.  As they eventually die, they sink deep into the ocean, taking the excess carbon with them.


The researchers argue that engineered nanoparticles could provide highly controlled nutrition that is specifically tuned for different ocean environments.  Surface coatings could help the particles attach to plankton.  Some could be engineered with light-absorbing properties, allowing plankton to consume and use more carbon dioxide.

Analysis of over 100 published studies showed that numerous non-toxic, abundant, and easy-to-create metal-oxygen materials could safely enhance plankton growth.  According to the researchers, the proposed fertilization would simply speed up a natural process that already sequesters carbon in a form that could remove it from the atmosphere for thousands of years.  They argue that given the current trends in the climate, time is of the essence for taking action.

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Fertilizing the Ocean to Store Carbon Dioxide

Photo, posted August 2, 2007, courtesy of Kevin McCarthy via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Why Save Endangered Species?

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One often hears the argument that humans need to save the world’s endangered species in order to save ourselves.  Carl Safina, a marine ecologist and award-winning environmental writer, has written a thought-provoking essay that offers the viewpoint that we don’t actually need the wild species of the world but that they need us.

The truth is that human beings have thrived by destroying nature.  We have exploited other species when they were useful to us and simply pushed them aside when they weren’t.  We drove America’s most abundant bird – the passenger pigeon – to extinction.  The most abundant large mammal – the bison – was driven to functional extinction.

In today’s world, people live at high densities in places devoid of wild species and natural beauty.  And while we express concern for elephants, gorillas, sperm whales, tigers, and various other species, how would the lives of most of us be affected at all should they vanish entirely?  The unfortunate truth is that it would make little difference to our lives.

The only species that are really essential to modern living are actually microbes of decay, a few insect pollinators, and the ocean’s photosynthesizing plankton.  Life would go on little changed without most other co-inhabitants of our planet.

Safina argues that our obligation to protect endangered species does not come from our dependence upon them but rather on a moral obligation.  Humans consider ourselves to be the most moral species and, as such, we have moral obligations.  In this case, it is to protect the beauty and wonder of our world, which is not trivial but in fact is the most profound thing on earth.

Safina has much more to say about this and I strongly recommend reading his essay.  You can find the link here.

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The Real Case for Saving Species: We Don’t Need Them, But They Need Us

Photo, posted December 9, 2014, courtesy of Gerry Zambonini via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

A Powerful Case For Protecting Whales

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Efforts to mitigate climate change typically face two major challenges.  One is to find effective ways to reduce the amount of atmospheric carbon dioxide.  The other is how to raise enough money to implement climate mitigation strategies. 

Many proposed solutions to climate change, like carbon capture and storage, are complex, expensive, and in some cases, untested.  What if there was a low-tech solution that was effective and economical?

Well, it turns out there is one, and it comes from a surprisingly simple, “no-tech” strategy to capture CO2: increase global whale populations. 

According to a recent analysis by economists with the International Monetary Fund, whales help fight climate change by sequestering CO2 in the ocean. 

Whales sequester carbon in a few ways.  They hoard it in their fat and protein-rich bodies, stockpiling tons of carbon apiece.  When whales die, they turn into literal carbon sinks on the ocean floor.  While alive, whales dive to feed on tiny marine organisms like krill and plankton before surfacing to breathe and excrete. Those latter activities release an enormous plume of nutrients, including nitrogen, iron, and phosphorous, into the water.  These so-called “poo-namis” stimulate the growth of phytoplankton, microscopic marine algae that pull CO2 out of the air and return oxygen to the air via photosynthesis.  Phytoplankton are responsible for every other breath we take, contributing at least 50% of all oxygen to the atmosphere and capturing approximately 40% of all CO2 produced. 

With other economic benefits like ecotourism factored in, economists estimate that each whale is worth $2 million over its lifetime, making the entire global population possibly a one trillion dollar asset to humanity.

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How much is a whale worth?

Photo, posted June 12, 2013, courtesy of Gregory Smith via Flickr.

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The Ecology Of Dust

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It isn’t something we think about very often, but dust is a connector of ecosystems around the world.  Dust carries various minerals and nutrients to places where such things are in very scarce supply.  This includes the oceans of the world as well as many forests and other ecosystems.  For example, phosphorus-bearing dust carried from the Gobi Desert is essential to the growth of giant redwoods in California’s Sierra Mountains.

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Corals Like Plastic

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Microplastics, which are tiny pieces of weathered plastic less than 5 millimeters in diameter, have been accumulating in the oceans for the past 40 years and are now ubiquitous in the marine environment.  They are a major threat to many kinds of marine life, including numerous species of birds, turtles, fish, marine mammals and invertebrates who ingest the stuff causing a variety of problems.

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Whale Sharks

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Whale sharks are the largest fish in the sea.  They can grow more than 40 feet in length, weigh up to 47,000 lbs, and have a lifespan of about 70 years.  They can be found cruising in the open waters of tropical oceans.  But despite being enormous, whale sharks are no threat to humans.  The docile beasts, which feed almost exclusively on plankton, have often been referred to as “gentle giants.”

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