Forget green, instead dump 20 tons iron sulfate into the sea

In what reeks of a desperate measure without adequate research, some scientists have proposed dumping 20 tons of iron sulfate into the Southern Ocean. The theory? Levels of iron in the ocean are trending lower, and reversing that trend would supposedly stimulate a burst in the plankton population.

That plankton would require carbon dioxide to survive and would likely pull it down out of the atmosphere. It sounds wonderful in theory, and could potentially delay shifting climate patterns. But on such a large scale, the side effects could be devastating.

While whales would benefit from a bountiful supply of food, plankton also absorbs sunlight and has the potential to further heat ocean waters. It’s also largely unknown how adding that much iron sulfate would affect other sea life, which introduces the possibility of releasing methane and nitrous oxide into the atmosphere. Those are even more potent greenhouse gases than carbon dioxide, according to The Independent.

The problem with this sort of solution is its doomsday mentality. The prevailing thought here is to do whatever is necessary to slow global warming despite “incidental” side effects.

Despite concerns from environmentalists, the expedition launched this week only to be called back by the German government pending “legal and environmental reviews”.

This sort of experimentation certainly happens on a regular basis, this expedition just happened to draw the attention of environmentalists because of its larger footprint. It raises questions surrounding the true intentions of governments worldwide to support the green movement through preventative measures versus reacting to a crisis.

From an economic perspective it makes the most sense to simply clean up the current mess and make incremental changes moving forward, but it also will provide the least motivation for rapid change. Hopefully in the meantime scientists looking to take risks also keep in mind that we still need to live on Earth.