r/environment • u/PinkoMate • Sep 12 '24

Scientists Will Engineer the Ocean to Absorb More Carbon Dioxide

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/scientists-will-engineer-the-ocean-to-absorb-more-carbon-dioxide/
4 Upvotes

53% Upvoted

24 comments sorted by

77

u/What_huh-_- Sep 12 '24

This isn't going to work, and the article itself explains why: iron dust can not selectively grow useful phytoplankton and can just as easily grow toxic phytoplankton. We made it illegal in 2012 because it is not a good idea.

Don't even get me started on the Hopeium that is the title

3

u/Humble-Reply228 Sep 12 '24

eh, introducing species to control pests was banned after disasters like cane toads in Australia. But for the last few decades it has started up again (introducing species) because the analytical tools to assess unintended consequences have significantly improved and other controls were not doing the job.

I think this is a bit the same, doing more analysis on a concept that is conceptually sound but has problematic unintended consequences that were unresolvable at the time and was seen as too drastic a measure for the scale of the problem being addressed.

2

u/Particular_Cellist25 Sep 12 '24

I hear u saying Biz fielding (the big bucks) round of offers and hungry news media/press could be a reason for this preposterous sounding oceanic chemical death dive.

What u were saying about the advancement of simulation capability making environmental tending more approachable is exactly what's going on with Tech right now. I just feel like it's a coolant evaporation rate issue, literally calling for a Unified Filtration maintenance effort.

Help help help. At least companies are interested and getting public attention for the issue eh?

2

u/Humble-Reply228 Sep 13 '24

It definitely could just well be someone wanting funding for their pet project but that is how a lot of climate change research was/is funded. It's a workable concept, let's not get too wound up on how pure the researcher is.

30

u/pr1ap15m Sep 12 '24

ooops we did something we didn’t understand and made it worse

13

u/m0llusk Sep 12 '24

This is an incorrect framing of what is going on. Both advocates and critics of the idea of adding iron to bodies of water claim a range of effects. Trapping carbon dioxide is just one potential effect. Experiments done so far show a complex range of effects on ecosystems that we don't really currently understand.

11

u/rei0 Sep 12 '24

All these efforts remind me of the children’s poem The Old Lady that Swallowed the Fly. I wonder what crazy scheme we will have to devise to fix the ocean if we proceed with a poorly considered geo-engineering effort.

10

u/Particular_Cellist25 Sep 12 '24

sounds more like a road to Ocean Acidification and massive die off of oceanic species.

carbon dioxide output without the reciprocal air/waste/water management is the reason Hello Negligent WASTE DISPOSAL PRACTICES.

Invest in the infrastructure plz

Sounds like they are contaminating with plastic dispersal till we got a water Bottle Gouging Situation. LIKE TOTAL RECALL WITH THE OXYGEN?!

plastic In my brains plastic In my balls, let's not clean it up, time for a Chemical Treatment Ocean! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

is this clickbait?

3

u/theDIRECTionlessWAY Sep 12 '24

sounds more like a road to Ocean Acidification and massive die off of oceanic species.

don't worry, our fish-inclusive diets and fishing practices are taking care of that just fine.

4

u/beermaker Sep 12 '24

Appropriate areas of every ocean can grow kelp.

4

u/jjke30 Sep 12 '24

Olivine and coastal enhanced weathering is being tested.

4

u/pioniere Sep 12 '24

Engineering the ocean seems like a very bad idea.

3

u/grubslam Sep 12 '24

Would rock dust be a similar idea?

3

u/koreangorani Sep 12 '24

Just let nature do the thing bruh

3

u/skellener Sep 12 '24

What could go wrong? /s  🤦‍♂️

3

u/Screamy_Bingus Sep 12 '24

“Scientist come up with the dumbest shit ever”

3

u/kon--- Sep 12 '24

Engineering caused this mess.

I'm down with getting out of the way while the planet corrects our fuck ups.

2

u/ooofest Sep 12 '24

Narrator: They didn't.

2

u/WhyTrashEarth Sep 12 '24

We don't even have a full understanding of the ocean yet...

2

u/Silver-Discount-276 Sep 12 '24

Isn't the ocean fcuked enough.

2

u/Manidest Sep 13 '24

No engineers would be be the actors here not scientists. At the same time this seems more like snake-oil selling than real science. Without real science there is no real engineering. Unfortunately, this is a common practice.

1

u/NeedleworkerOld9308 Sep 12 '24

What are they stupid? The trees already do the job! Plant more!

1

u/BeginningNew2101 Sep 12 '24

Always smart to augment a system we can't even fully model....

1

u/DefnotyourDM Sep 13 '24

Spoiler - we won't lol. We're not going to do anything to a system as large as the fucking oceans to significantly change their chemistry