Smacking down a bad idea 5

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1. 

   Sam Wells Posted 2:22 pm
   27 Jul 2007

   Hey let's farm seaweed!I agree that using ferrous oxide and other compounds (not pure iron, mind you) would be polluting the oceans in the name of false carbon credits.
   I haven't researched this very well, but some folks such as in Japan actually farm seaweed.  I'm serious.  As plant, it does its carbon absorption thing.  It seeds itself and dies every year.  
   So then they take the seaweed up onto the beaches and do several things with it, all good.  
   
   
   Drying and burning it as a renewable energy source in a boiler.  Seems old fashioned, but seaweed can burn pretty dang hot and no petroleum products are used, except maybe some natural gas to get things going.
   Eating the stuff and using it for consumer products.  We don't eat much seaweed but I like it in some oriental dishes, and plus the stuff can be used in all kinds of products, amazingly.  Sold in some alternative vitamin stores as well.
   Fertilizing with it.  This actually has some American roots along the coastlines, since as late as WWII people were hauling seaweed onto the breach to be dried, and to allow natural rain to reduce the salt content.  Then throw it on the fields as a soil conditioner and fertilizer.  Great stuff.
   Brewing.  Whoa, don't forget this one, certain kinds of moss seaweed make excellent products for helping clarify beer on the cool-down cycle, the "break."  I use two heaping spoons of Irish Moss per 5 gallons.
   One heck of a clam bake.  This classic Indian inspired method requires a beach fire pit with lots of rocks in the bottom with a huge amount of coals; seaweed is put on top of layers having clams, fish, lobsters, corn, and whatever works.
    Making a bullwhip from Pacific kelp roots - now how cool is that?
   
   
   I'd better stop before I get carried away.  Seaweed is useful and the idea of creating biomass and then using it seems cool.  I'm no expert and I'm heard that invasive aquatic species are taking over from the "good" kinds of seaweed, although its extent is not clear in my mind.  /sammie
   
   Onward through the fog

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2. 

   Biodiversivist Posted 3:28 am
   29 Jul 2007

   JosephYou don't know where I can listen to an archived version of that hearing's webcast do you? Being a government run web site, devoid of a profit motive, they of course have not bothered to provide an archive of such trivial events to keep interested parties informed and coming back for more, or at least have hidden it well.
   
   In the end, it all comes down to biodiversity. Poison Darts--Protecting the biodiversity of our world

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3. 

   Peter Donovan Posted 10:48 am
   29 Jul 2007

   soil the solutionThat trees make lousy offsets may be unpopular but it is correct. Trees hold carbon, but not that much, and for not that long before decay or fire returns it to the atmosphere. Making a tree into a valuable wood floor will hold the carbon out of the atmosphere for another century or so. Making a tree into a house, or a library, or something else of value, is the best way to watch over the carbon.
   Soil, even in its presently depleted state, holds more carbon than the atmosphere and all the world's vegetation combined. The best thing about soil is that it's a proven sink, we influence it greatly, and soil carbon is a tremendous asset as organic matter. We can feed soil with carbon using perennial grasses (mainly in temperate climates) using current solar energy. It's proven, it works.  Let's not use it to offset more fossil fuel burning. Let's use it to stop global warming.
   Details at http://www.biospheremedia.org

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4. 

   kwhilden Posted 2:09 pm
   29 Jul 2007

   Most recent science is more positiveIn 2007, two very positive papers on iron fertilization came out. Boyd (Nature) and Buesseler (Science) demonstrated that phytoplankton blooms can cause significant carbon export to the deep ocean. It's interesting to note that the most recent paper cited by SOLAS came from 2005. Iron fertilization is a "hot" topic in oceanography these days, so expect a rapid increase in the state of knowledge about the process. SOLAS does mention that this is necessary.
   Another interesting paper came out in Science last week, which demonstrated that mineral dust from melting icebergs has significant biologic benefits on the local food chain. Apparently, mineral dust lands on ice as it forms high on the Antarctic continent. When that ice eventually melts as an iceberg, this dust is released and stimulates the local plankton because of the beneficial effects of iron.  The krill eat the plankton, and also increase in numbers, which feeds everything that eats krill (fish, baleen whales). The paper noticed an increased population of birds around the bergs, which eat the fish. This is discussed in Time magazine this week:
   
   http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1647451, ...
   According to this study, it sure seems like natural iron fertilization has positive effects on the food chain in the antarctic, and I think that humans could figure out beneficial ways to stimulate it as a way to solve global warming. It's not the only solution, but it sure seems like a natural one that can be applied in parallel with energy efficiency and renewable energy.
   
   

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5. 

   Adam Stein Posted 12:16 pm
   30 Jul 2007

   Rule #3I've been following most of Romm's posts with my own commentary, but I don't really have much to add to this one. I agree, geoengineering is not a first or even a second recourse, and the experts have spoken with a pretty clear voice on iron fertilization.
   I do want to point out, though, that as far as I know, there really aren't any offsets available from geo-engineering projects. Certainly there aren't any in the compliance markets. I think Planktos briefly tried to offer some in the voluntary market, but then stopped, probably in response to criticism. So unless I'm mistaken, this rule is more theoretical than practical.
   
   www.terrapass.com/blog

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