To Combat Climate Change, Researchers Want to Pull Carbon Dioxide From the Ocean and Make Rock

[Nevilledog]

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/combat-climate-change-researchers-want-to-pull-carbon-dioxide-from-ocean-and-turn-it-into-rock-180977903/


A new method for combatting climate change feels like a bit of modern-day alchemy: scientists have figured out how to take carbon dioxide out of the ocean and turn it into harmless rock.

For every tonne of carbon dioxide we pump into the air, roughly a quarter of it gets absorbed by the ocean like a giant, watery sponge. All of this excess carbon dioxide is acidifying the water and threatening organisms, such as those with calcium carbonate shells, that are sensitive to the change.

To avert this fate, carbon emissions need to drop—fast. But many scientists also believe that active carbon capture—deliberately pulling carbon dioxide out of the environment—will be a necessary step to help curb, and potentially even reverse, the rise in emissions responsible for countless environmental impacts. However, capturing enough carbon to make a difference is a massive task, one that has so far proved challenging and expensive.

“You’re talking about removing some 10 to 20 gigatonnes of [carbon dioxide] per year, starting from 2050, probably for the next century,” says Gaurav Sant, a civil and environmental engineering professor and director of the Institute for Carbon Management at the University of California, Los Angeles.

*snip*