Climate Change Analysis
Kenji Murao
11/1/10
Wayman, Erin, F. 2008. Seeding the Sea Will releasing iron into the oceans to combat climate change help — or harm — the planet? GeoTimes. http://www.geotimes.org/aug08/article.html?id=feature_sea.html All We Need Is Iron Right?
“Seeding the Sea” is a metaphorically appropriate title for this article. The purpose of this article is to inform more people of a different kind method to help fight global warming and climate change. Carbon dioxide is one of many green house gases that contribute to global warming and can be absorbed by either land or water. It has been proven that the oceans are able to absorb carbon dioxide fairly easier than land, so why not try to enhance carbon dioxide absorption through them. The method is also known as ocean fertilization, which means the idea is to dump iron into the ocean to allow phytoplankton to thrive. These phytoplankton absorb carbon dioxide and along with other nutrients and can possibly, as it dies, make its way down to the ocean floors. Essentially the goal is to feed these phytoplankton and have them drag carbon dioxide down with them to the ocean floors keeping them there for about 100 years until the natural ocean cycles would eventually surface these phytoplankton.
I am all for finding different ways to help fight global warming and climate change because this planet is our home, and without it none of us will be able to do anything. I believe that this could be an effective way to help fight against climate change and reduce a specific greenhouse gas. However, the article also states that this method may actually increase the production of nitrous oxide and methane which are more potent than carbon dioxide through the bacteria in the ocean that decays the biomass. It is a catch 22 situation and I believe that other methods should be found that only decrease green house gases. We should not have to sacrifice one gas for another. Another flaw in this method is that dumping iron into one area
11/1/10
Wayman, Erin, F. 2008. Seeding the Sea Will releasing iron into the oceans to combat climate change help — or harm — the planet? GeoTimes. http://www.geotimes.org/aug08/article.html?id=feature_sea.html All We Need Is Iron Right?
“Seeding the Sea” is a metaphorically appropriate title for this article. The purpose of this article is to inform more people of a different kind method to help fight global warming and climate change. Carbon dioxide is one of many green house gases that contribute to global warming and can be absorbed by either land or water. It has been proven that the oceans are able to absorb carbon dioxide fairly easier than land, so why not try to enhance carbon dioxide absorption through them. The method is also known as ocean fertilization, which means the idea is to dump iron into the ocean to allow phytoplankton to thrive. These phytoplankton absorb carbon dioxide and along with other nutrients and can possibly, as it dies, make its way down to the ocean floors. Essentially the goal is to feed these phytoplankton and have them drag carbon dioxide down with them to the ocean floors keeping them there for about 100 years until the natural ocean cycles would eventually surface these phytoplankton.
I am all for finding different ways to help fight global warming and climate change because this planet is our home, and without it none of us will be able to do anything. I believe that this could be an effective way to help fight against climate change and reduce a specific greenhouse gas. However, the article also states that this method may actually increase the production of nitrous oxide and methane which are more potent than carbon dioxide through the bacteria in the ocean that decays the biomass. It is a catch 22 situation and I believe that other methods should be found that only decrease green house gases. We should not have to sacrifice one gas for another. Another flaw in this method is that dumping iron into one area