Is iron fertilization a practical safe way to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere?

Question

Most of the surface of the ocean is deficient in the nutrient iron. Adding small amounts of iron as fertilizer results in vigorous growth of phytoplankton, small plants. Iron fertilization as a mechanism to sequester carbon has been proposed as a solution to global warming, but has been vigorously opposed by certain scientists and environmentalists. See http://carbonsequestration.blogspot.com/ There is some evidence that iron fertilization works too well, and would itself be a major ecological shock with unknown consequences if applied widely. However, it seems to be a relatively effective and economical method to substantially reduce carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Part of the question is how to answer the question, that is, what research is necessary and appropriate in order to determine if iron fertilizer could be used on a wide scale.

Answer 1

Let's create a big non-problem like global warming and then create a big non-solution to that non-problem by dumping iron into the sea.

Who are you going to tax to pay for it?

Answer 2

Trying to oppose one gigantic man made change with another seems pretty risky to me.  How would you have confidence that we'd get it right?

It seems far better to simply stop emitting so much greenhouse gas.

"If the Earth came with an operating manual, the chapter on climate might begin with a caveat that the system has been adjusted at the factory for optimum comfort, so don't touch the dials."

Answer 3

The main danger is it would be hard to reverse if it began to get colder and we wanted it to warm instead. The other idea I've heard is to launch billions of tiny discs into the upper atmosphere that would reflect away sunlight before it could reach the surface. That would be virtually impossible to reverse.

Of course without greenhouse gases the Earth would be frozen and uninhabitable, they warm the surface by 33 degrees C. Take away a significant portion of that and you could kill everything so I'd prefer they talk about this without doing it. Unfortunately they have already dumped a lot of iron to feed the algae, experimentally. We don't begin to understand the impact of things like this since even a small change can be magnified in ways we don't see.

If you could do it in a closely controlled way it might work but I doubt it will be approved. The actual goal of the global warming hysteria is to transfer national sovereignty to international organizations and the environmentalists will only be satisfied with the collapse of our industrialized societies. That's why they oppose any carbon sequestration proposal, now we've found that trees emit methane so they cause global warming, too.

Maurice Strong headed the Rio de Janeiro Earth Summit. In 1990, he told a reporter a fantasy scenario for the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland - where 1,000 diplomats, CEOs and politicians gather "to address global issues."

  Strong, naturally, is on the board of the World Economic Forum. "What if a small group of these world leaders were to conclude the principal risk to the earth comes from the actions of the rich countries?...

   In order to save the planet, the group decides: Isn't the only hope for the planet that the industrialized civilizations collapse? Isn't it our responsibility to bring this about?"

Answer 4

How much is a "small" amount. Also, how much would it cost the US taxpayer to assist in a program with extremely dubious results?

Answer 5

Are you serious? Do you have any concept about how large the Earth is?  

About 120,000,000+ sq. miles of ocean.

Do you even know that the heavier CO2 "Falls to the ground or Oceans" to be reabsorbed  and the oceans are the largest repository of CO2.  The oceans have become heated enough to expel the higher amounts seen in the atmosphere for the last 100+ years.  The Sun has been more active for this same time period.

Ocean temperature monitoring here:

http://www.mitosyfraudes.org/Calen7/Morn...

30+ degree centigrade is 'pretty warm'!!!!!

When the oceans cool again in the coming ice age the CO2 will automatically return to the oceans and atmospheric levels will drop again.

Man is totally insignificant!

To top all this off:  Humans and plants are called carbon based life forms - CO2 is NOT an evil gas that must be eliminated!

We can survive quite comfortably - indeed thrive - at 1000+ ppm CO2 levels.

Answer 6

The science on whether this would be a good thing to do is far from settled.  For instance:

http://www.whoi.edu/cms/files/Watson_Oth...

from this conference:

http://www.whoi.edu/page.do?pid=14617

If you're serious about the science, bounce around the WHOI conference and listen to the talks.