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Index of Subjects --Apple-Mail-85--1024820629 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed; delsp=yes Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hi Fred, On 20-Jun-12, at 12:14 PM, Frederick W. Schueler wrote: > On 6/20/2012 9:21 AM, Christopher Majka wrote: > >> If this happens, a myriad of animals and plants in the ocean -- >> mollusks >> (mussels, scallops, oysters, clams, snails), barnacles, sea urchins, >> starfish, crinoids, corals, coralline algae, foraminifera, and >> coccolithophores -- may simply dissolve into oblivion. > > * whatever happened to the old proposal to suck carbon out of the > atmosphere by releasing iron into iron-deficient tropical ocean > currents to increase planktonic productivity, and depositing a plume > of fixed carbon (and planktonic CaCO3 shells?) on the downstream > ocean floor? How would this impact acidification? Well, it is an idea, (adding finely ground iron can increase photosynthesis in tropical regions thirty-fold) and if things continue to deteriorate we may be forced to resort to such ocean engineering strategies. It's hard to imagine the engineering challenges of doing this on a scale large enough to make a difference to the world's oceans. You would need to use enormous amounts of iron and you would generate vast quantities of carbohydrates. Even if you did this over deep water, how long would this remain stable before decomposing and releasing the CO^2? All this argues for doing our utmost upfront to stop releasing the carbon in the first place. I conclude my article by saying: "The only way to stop ocean acidification -- and the only way to stop climate change -- is for all of us to emit less carbon dioxide. There's no way to gerrymander this. We can't postpone action on climate change and ocean acidification until economic conditions are ripe any more than we can postpone death or taxes. We must grapple with these issues now. ...Turning our climate into a hothouse and our oceans into a corrosive brew would be a bleak monument to human stupidity, greed, and shortsightedness. Now is the time to act before we create a corrosive oceanic wasteland." Chris > > fred. > ------------------------------------------------------------ > Frederick W. Schueler & Aleta Karstad > Bishops Mills Natural History Centre - http://pinicola.ca/bmnhc.htm > Mudpuppy Night in Oxford Mills - http://pinicola.ca/mudpup1.htm > Daily Paintings - http://karstaddailypaintings.blogspot.com/ > South Nation Basin Art & Science Book > http://pinicola.ca/books/SNR_book.htm > RR#2 Bishops Mills, Ontario, Canada K0G 1T0 > on the Smiths Falls Limestone Plain 44* 52'N 75* 42'W > (613)258-3107 <bckcdb at istar.ca> http://pinicola.ca/ > ------------------------------------------------------------ > ------------------------------------------------------------ > Christopher Majka Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada c.majka@ns.sympatico.ca The good thing about science is that it's true whether or not you believe in it - Neil deGrasse Tyson --Apple-Mail-85--1024820629 Content-Type: text/html; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable <html><body style=3D"word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; = -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; ">Hi Fred,<div><br><div><div>On = 20-Jun-12, at 12:14 PM, Frederick W. Schueler wrote:</div><br = class=3D"Apple-interchange-newline"><blockquote type=3D"cite"><div>On = 6/20/2012 9:21 AM, Christopher Majka wrote:<br><br><blockquote = type=3D"cite">If this happens, a myriad of animals and plants in the = ocean -- mollusks<br></blockquote><blockquote type=3D"cite">(mussels, = scallops, oysters, clams, snails), barnacles, sea = urchins,<br></blockquote><blockquote type=3D"cite">starfish, crinoids, = corals, coralline algae, foraminifera, and<br></blockquote><blockquote = type=3D"cite">coccolithophores -- may simply dissolve into = oblivion.<br></blockquote><br>* whatever happened to the old proposal to = suck carbon out of the atmosphere by releasing iron into iron-deficient = tropical ocean currents to increase planktonic productivity, and = depositing a plume of fixed carbon (and planktonic CaCO3 shells?) on the = downstream ocean floor? How would this impact = acidification?<br></div></blockquote><div><br></div><div>Well, it is an = idea, (adding finely ground iron can increase photosynthesis in tropical = regions thirty-fold) and if things continue to deteriorate we may be = forced to resort to such ocean engineering strategies. It's hard to = imagine the engineering challenges of doing this on a scale large enough = to make a difference to the world's oceans. You would need to use = enormous amounts of iron and you would generate vast quantities of = carbohydrates. Even if you did this over deep water, how long would this = remain stable before decomposing and releasing the = CO^2? </div><div><br></div><div>All this argues for doing our = utmost upfront to stop releasing the carbon in the first place. I = conclude my article by saying:</div><div><br></div><div>"The only way to = stop ocean acidification -- and the only way to stop climate change -- = is for all of us to emit less carbon dioxide. There's no way to = gerrymander this. We can't postpone action on climate change and ocean = acidification until economic conditions are ripe any more than we can = postpone death or taxes. We must grapple with these issues now. = ...Turning our climate into a hothouse and our oceans into a corrosive = brew would be a bleak monument to human stupidity, greed, and = shortsightedness. Now is the time to act before we create a corrosive = oceanic wasteland."</div><div><br></div><div>Chris</div><br><blockquote = type=3D"cite"><div><br>fred.<br>------------------------------------------= ------------------<br> = Frederick W. Schueler = & Aleta Karstad<br>Bishops Mills Natural History Centre - <a = href=3D"http://pinicola.ca/bmnhc.htm">http://pinicola.ca/bmnhc.htm</a><br>= Mudpuppy Night in Oxford Mills - <a = href=3D"http://pinicola.ca/mudpup1.htm">http://pinicola.ca/mudpup1.htm</a>= <br>Daily Paintings - <a = href=3D"http://karstaddailypaintings.blogspot.com/">http://karstaddailypai= ntings.blogspot.com/</a><br> = South Nation Basin Art = & Science Book<br> = &nbs