Iron dust can produce enough plankton to help save earth – a California company hopes to prove this rather controversial theory and hopes to make money out of plankton cultivation. Planktos Corp., the company that is carrying on the research has sent the research ship, Weatherbird II, to dump tons of pulverized iron ore into the ocean.
The mission of the company is to see whether ‘iron seeding’ or ‘iron enrichment’ could catalyze the growth of microscopic algae that in turn will suck carbon out of the atmosphere.
If the research goes well, Planktos Corp. aims to make money by fertilizing the ocean with iron dust, measuring the amount of carbon their plankton forests could suck and sell carbon credits for cash on emerging world carbon markets.
However, scientists and environmentalists are dissatisfied with Weatherbird’s mission. They believe that the theory has not been sufficiently tested to be tried out on such a large scale. Planktos is undeterred by the criticisms. The company feels that in the process they will help clean the atmosphere of tons of carbon dioxide responsible for global warming.
Source: Reuters
Image: Commondreams
