Geo-engineering news
July 22, 2008
Our friend Sol Shapiro sends along some interesting updates on geo-engineering.
First, Shell Oil is funding a new project that will seed seawater with lime as a means of sequestering CO2. Mongabay.com describes the process: “ Adding lime (calcium hydroxide) to seawater increases its alkalinity, thereby increasing the ocean’s capacity to absorb CO2 and reducing its tendency to the greenhouse gas back into the atmosphere. The process could also help counter acid acidification, which biologists say is increasingly a threat to marine life, including coral reefs and plankton.”
There is a more detailed description of project plans and goals at Cquestrate.com (thanks again to Sol for providing the link). Although Cquestrate is receiving funding from Shell for their project, they are operating independently, with the intention of developing an open source solution, meaning that Shell will not acquire any ownership of the process. A lot of people will automatically discount any activity that receives funding from an oil company, but that is an act of willful blindness. We don’t care where the solutions originate, so long as they are effective.
