This won't stop warming, but did you know that oysters are being used to clean up ocean pollution? They do it with ease. From the Mediterranean to New York Harbor, Oysters clean up with ease.
https://reasonstobecheerful.world/oysters-clean-ocean-water-new-york-harbor/?
We visited reclamthebay.org this summer. The organization is dedicated to increasing the number of clams and oysters in the Barnegat Bay for the purpose of cleaning the bay. Also, they “grow” the clams and oysters on shells I believe are recycled from restaurants. The shell bags serve the dual purpose of bulking up barrier islands. I thought of this website when we visited. As an aside, the organizers did warn to be careful to check the origin of oysters before eating as they should be harvested from clean waters.
We've been on the same wavelength. I've been thinking about mycoremediation because I just read How to Change Your Mind by Michael Pollan. One of the personalities that features in the book is Paul Stamets, who first used fungi to break down oil in the Exxon Valdez cleanup. Stamets was also an early proponent of the mycelial "Wood Wide Web," which we now know exists.
Anyways, there are visions on this site that see all of our plastic pollution being cleaned up by the end of the century, and I think fungal agents will help us achieve that.
@jeanne-mayell Oysters and other creatures (e.g. corals) that build their skeletons and shells from calcium carbonate actually act as *sinks* for carbon dioxide. So they can help with climate change!
The carbonate part of the calcium carbonate is extracted from CO2 dissolved in seawater. The more CO2 they are able to extract, the more CO2 that can be dissolved into the water from the atmosphere.
You'd think, "Oh Yay, lets seed the oceans with tons of clams and oysters and corals and they will sequester all the excess CO2, but one hangup with the process is that calcium carbonate will dissolve BACK into the water if the pH gets too low. And the more atmospheric CO2 that dissoves into the oceans, the lower the pH gets. (And low pH = high acidity)
Some species of corals are having trouble maintaining their skeletons with the rising acidity level of the oceans. On the plus side, scientists have discovered some coral species that are naturally acid-resistant so there are have been proposals of encouraging their growth, and also possibly producing hybrid acid-resistant corals.
Reference example: https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn27789-heat-tolerant-genes-could-help-corals-adapt-to-climate-change/
Another weird-- and convenient- thing about calcium carbonate is that it actually becomes LESS soluble in warmer water than colder water. (This is why your hot water tap may get all crusted up with hard water deposits while your cold water tap stays clean. And why you might get a hard water ring around the inside of your tea kettle. ) More calcium carbonate precipitating from ocean water means more CO2 locked up in solid form. The climate system has so many, many moving parts and feedback loops, it's incredible .
HELLO FRIENDS,
I don't post very often, but this article in VOX today caught my eye regarding climate change. Very interesting article about the issues of methane with regard to global warming. It makes the point that if we don't deal with the methane issue, we will have a LOT of issues in the not too distant future.
ENJOY! https://www.vox.com/22613532/climate-change-methane-emissions
THIS IS GREAT NEWS!!!!
Something to cheer about!!!
U.S. District Judge Sharon Gleason— an Obama appointee — wrote in her ruling that the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service incorrectly approved the project because they failed to adequately analyze its climate impact and other possible development plans, and didn’t specify how polar bears would be protected.
Here's a cool (literally) idea :
https://spectrum.ieee.org/climate-change
The authors of the article propose spraying seawater into the air to create tiny salt crystals, upon which water vapor would accumulate to create more clouds and more reflective clouds. (No foreign aerosol substances needed. )It would take a lot of ships cruising around spraying a lot of water, but sure is worth an experiment.
Human cleverness is as infinite as human stupidity it seems--- hopefully the former wins out.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-58600723
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I think we all knew this would be the case, but it's just so disappointing to see our trajectory is still very much the same despite all the pledges made globally.
Despite all the promises to take action, the world is still on course to heat up to dangerous levels.
That's the latest blunt assessment of the United Nations.
Its experts have studied the climate plans of more than 100 countries and concluded that we're heading in the wrong direction.
Scientists recently confirmed that to avoid the worst impacts of hotter conditions, global carbon emissions needed to be cut by 45% by 2030.
But this new analysis shows that those emissions are set to rise by 16% during this period.
This link was referenced as an example of Doris's correct prediction. In 2005, I had the privilege of being in a small group where Klaus Lachner presented his first iteration of a carbon capture machine. I have wondered if he would succeed eventually because without such devices, I am not sure we will survive at least comfortably, as a species.
So, I was heartened to know he has made huge progress. By the way, he got the idea while shopping with his young daughter for a device that goes on small aquariums.
Hello,
I've been wondering if someone has seen anything about the microplastic? It was not so recently discovered in the bloodstreams and other organic tissues and I've been thinking if we'll be able to overcome it? I know the scientists are looking into getting rid of microplastic from the environment but what about people's and animal's health?