Carbon Discredit

Russ George knew how to fight global warming: Grow rainforests' worth of plantlife in the open ocean, plantlife that would suck carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. He had the boat, the money and the team to make it happen. Everything was going according to plan—that is, until the environmentalists mobilized

By Kalee Thompson Posted 07.01.2008 at 10:53 am 8 Comments

Russ George: Thor Swift

The attacks came fast and hard. On May 2, 2007, as the Weatherbird and its crew were docked at a berth in Florida gathering supplies for their Pacific voyage, an ad hoc coalition of environmental groups, including Greenpeace International and the Ecuadorian nonprofit Accíon Ecologica, issued a press release under the heading "Geoengineers to Foul Galápagos Seas." Planktos's plans are a "risky gamble with sensitive marine ecosystems," the statement read. "Climate change is a real threat, but common sense should not be its first victim." The groups used the Galápagos Marine Reserve, a United Nations World Heritage Site that is widely considered one of the most delicate and unique environments on the planet, as their poster child, warning that Planktos's "reckless experiment" could damage the island chain's celebrated animal and plant life. "Large-scale modification of ecosystems is always a very dangerous business," warns Greenpeace scientist Paul Johnston, one of the signatories to the anti-Planktos press release.

The environmentalists had other objections. If society relies on quick techno-fixes to ameliorate global warming, they said, people will stop putting in the hard work necessary to cut carbon emissions. They also latched on to Planktos's online description of its iron particles as nanosize, warning that "the Planktos experiment may be the largest intentional release of engineered nanoparticles ever undertaken."

George was incensed. Calling Planktos a nanotech company was dishonest, a calculated attempt to raise unfounded fears in the public, he retorted. Planktos planned to scatter a powdered version of the iron ore red hematite, essentially the same stuff that might rust off the side of an old dinghy or prompt natural plankton blooms when blown out on a dust storm. And local environmentalists, he charged, knew that prevailing currents would carry any iron away from the Galápagos Islands, not toward them. He described the crew of the Weatherbird as organic gardeners, helping the ocean along in a planet-saving process that was completely safe and totally natural.

His arguments failed to sway the ever-growing group of environmental naysayers—and the stakes were soon raised. Planktos's widely trumpeted plans attracted the attention of the Sea Shepherds, a Greenpeace splinter group of self-professed "eco-pirates" committed to stopping whaling by any means necessary. This winter, the Sea Shepherds made headlines by chasing a Japanese whaling vessel around the Southern Ocean, pelting the crew with glass bottles stuffed with rancid butter. The Sea Shepherds patrol regularly in the Galápagos, where their usual mission includes confronting illegal long-liners and sea-cucumber poachers. Since 1979, the group has rammed and sunk nine ships. Captain Paul Watson made clear how they planned to greet the Weatherbird: "We are not Greenpeace. We won't be just showing up to hang banners and take snapshots."

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8 Comments

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ford2go

07/02/08 at 12:40 am

Sounds like the guy deserves a chance. It's doubtful that this small scale experiment will have much effect one way or the other. Seems as if it's worth a try.

As for the noble words that we don't want a 'quick fix' -- well, sometimes science is the answer. Reducing the effects of pollution is as valid as reducing pollution activity.

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MarcusM

07/02/08 at 4:10 am

It's pretty sad that someone's trying to actually DO something about the problem of climate change, and these eco-terrorists who think they know better have to sabotage the effort. Couldn't the Planktos seeding have been treated as an experiment? Let them do their thing and closely watch the results? Data gathered would have validated the technique and calibrated the results for Carbon offset.

An even worse thing is that anyone with a Climate Change solution will now think twice before attempting anything.

While long-term fixes and structural changes are a good thing, quick fixes and band-aids have their place too. We have to fight Climate Change and the energy crisis on all fronts. Every little bit helps.

I live about 3 meters above sea level, and I take every solution, band aid or not, very seriously indeed.

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MarcusM

07/02/08 at 4:10 am

An even worse thing is that anyone with a Climate Change solution will now think twice before attempting anything.

I live about 3 meters above sea level, and I take every solution, band aid or not, very seriously indeed.

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ThomasB1

07/02/08 at 11:48 am

As someone who was involved in the Planktos project, I am still surprised by how many people focused on the “profit motive”, which seemed to be main objection of the environmentalists. Profit was never the main goal of Planktos. The goal was to research the huge potential benefit of iron fertilization to help restore the health of the oceans.

The reason Planktos was organized as a for-profit business was it was otherwise impossible to get funding to do the work. Keep in mind, before Planktos and the huge amount of publicity it generated, there was little or no public awareness of iron fertilization as a technique and very limited funding for the ocean science community to study the field.

Above all we need to remember that the oceans are in a very bad state, and getting worse, due to enormous human pressures. There is no political willpower to stop this human impact. Overfishing and pollution will continue. Therefore we need techniques to help restore the health of the oceans…and iron fertilization is our best thing we have so far. It needs to be researched, understood, and developed fully.

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pico

07/02/08 at 12:23 pm

For those interested in the continuing saga of Planktos and the quest for ecorestoration of seas and trees you might find the new Planktos-Science (dot) com web pages of interest.

Ecorestoration of our seas has never been more critically important. If we help Mother Ocean she will absolve, as opposed to dissolve, our sins of emission.

Pico

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macro820

07/04/08 at 12:09 am

There's still no replacement for cutting CO2 altogether.

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Scottar

07/13/08 at 9:40 pm

Scottar

As physicists and weathermen know, oceans are not heated due to air temperature, It's the reverse. Air temperatures are heating from the ocean's temperature, after all, it's what drives hurricanes and tropical storms.

So what's heating the oceans? It's not CO2! So what is causing global warming-uh, oh, excu'se me, it's now- 'climate change'.

What are they going to call it next, Gore's folly?

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jnsmith

06/01/09 at 7:32 am

jnsmith So if he had gone and got a grant for $10,000,000 From These People That Were Protesting And Shuting him down! He would be in the Ocean now seeding it down with thier blessing. Right!