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Hi Fred & All, Oct 24, 2012
Thanks for the URLs. What a mess; the lesson being that carbon trades,
at the best of times, are just elaborate frauds of which this is an
outstanding example.
And the long-suffering taxpayer, with two frayed ropes and a used apple
barrel for clothes (nod to Chambers), will eventually have to pay for the
2.5 million flop, the one million in legal fees and the $257.43 fine.
Yt, DW
----- Original Message -----
From: "Fred Schueler" <bckcdb@istar.ca>
To: <naturens@chebucto.ns.ca>; "David & Alison Webster" <dwebster@glinx.com>
Sent: Tuesday, October 23, 2012 11:29 PM
Subject: Re: [NatureNS] Iron fertilization
> Quoting David & Alison Webster <dwebster@glinx.com>:
>
>> I gather from your comments about 'iron fertilization' that another
>> trial has run into opposition. Unfortunate if true.
>>
>> Certainly trying to unscramble the real effects of a broadcast
>> application in the open ocean is problematic but the remedy is to devise
>> approaches that are amenable to statistical test and refine methods on
>> the basis of results as opposed to debate-- e.g. how many phytoplankton
>> can grow on the head of an iron pin anyway ?).
>
> * here's the NY Times account -
> http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/19/science/earth/iron-dumping-experiment-in-pacific-alarms-marine-experts.html?_r=2&emc=eta1& -
> and some sleuthing of details -
> http://watershedsentinel.ca/content/new-evidence-re-old-masset-iron-fertilization-scheme -
> and the CBC -
> http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/story/2012/10/19/bc-ocean-fertilization-haida.html
> everybody seems to be dissing this because none of their friends were part
> of the scientific staff.
>
> It seems to me that if what iron fertilization needed was larger scale
> experiments, then the thing to do is to wait for the experimenters'
> report on this project, and if that proves to be inadequate, infer what
> it's possible to infer from this 100 tonne event, and then see how to do,
> and fund, a better-controlled experiment. There's great howling against
> geoengineering, but if we've geomodified the Earth by burning up forests
> and fossil fuels, then we've got to find out what to do to counteract
> this or go back to the late Permian/early Triassic condition of 40C
> equatorial ocean waters, and 50C equatorial lands.
>
> fred.
> ================================================================
>>
>> Why not e.g. enclose test areas with a polyethylene curtain around
>> the perimeter, let them drift, sample fallout at intervals and naturally
>> sample phytoplankton and water composition in the upper enclosed layers.
>> One could then have real control and test plots replicated as necessary
>> based on accumulating experience. With beacons to locate scattered plots
>> and automated sampling/recording, a mother ship (or more as necessary)
>> could service sufficient plots over time to obtain data amenable to
>> statistical tests.
>>
>> Iron has been entering the ocean, mostly as dust or eroded fines,
>> since the dawn of time and, if I recall correctly, areas with high
>> natural addition rates are unusually productive.
>>
>> The high productivity of the Bay of Fundy is often attributed to
>> deep mixing of nutrients but is iron perhaps one of these or even the
>> key nutrient ? Fine soil (iron rich) gets swept down the Bay with every
>> falling tide.
>>
>> Which is worse, the potential to make a few mistakes in small areas
>> of ocean or the really large mistake associated with contributing to
>> permafrost melt, release of methane from methyl hydrate, massive
>> positive feedback and runaway global warming ?
>>
>> Yt, Dave Webster, Kentville
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> 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/
> ------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
>
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