Posted on 10/21/2012 4:24:17 PM PDT by Lorianne
A California businessman chartered a fishing boat in July, loaded it with 100 tons of iron dust and cruised through Pacific waters off western Canada, spewing his cargo into the sea in an ecological experiment that has outraged scientists and government officials.
The entrepreneur, whose foray came to light only this week, even duped the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in the United States into lending him ocean-monitoring buoys for the project.
Canada’s environment ministry says it is investigating the experiment, which was carried out with no government or scientific oversight. A spokesman said the ministry had warned the venture in advance that its plan would violate international agreements.
Marine scientists and other experts have assailed the experiment as unscientific, irresponsible and probably in violation of those agreements, which are intended to prevent tampering with ocean ecosystems under the guise of trying to fight the effects of climate change.
Though the environmental impact of the foray could well prove minimal, scientists said, it raises the specter of what they have long feared: rogue field experiments that might unintentionally put the environment at risk.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
They don’t like anyone intruding into the their monopoly on “science”, especially if it shows that the ocean is a simple fix for any excess CO2.
What the heck is iron dust supposed to do?
The dust will get wet:)
Actually is supposed to help spawn plankton. I went ahead and read the article:)
Feed the fish??
Read the article@! thats outrageous.
spawn plankton? which will then deplete the oxygen and kill all the fish
or make the ocean rust
It is supposed to cause an algea bloom which then dies when runs out of iron. The biomass then sinks trapping the carbon at the sea bottom.
No government oversight?
Oh the horror!!
I think it’s funny. Here some guy did something they would have been proud to take credit for, if only one of their half-witted nincompoops came up with the idea, and it had cost a half billion dollars U. S.
They demagogue the issue of global warming for twenty years, causing weak minded people to go psycho on us all, and now they’re mystified why anyone would do this.
Hey folks, break out YOUR folders dumb asses. Perhaps if you put 10,000 of your brilliant (or not) people together, they might be able to figure this one out in thirty years or so.
Most of us healthy people already have an answer.
Now that is good!
Not likely ~ did you know the locals call that plate the "Wonder....." Plate ~ 's true!
Geology magazine had a piece a couple of years back showing how this is the plate that is dampening the mantle plume that fires up Yellowstone, while it, the plume, is destroying the plate ~ http://seismo.berkeley.edu/~rallen/pub/2007xue/XueAllenEPSL2007.pdf
Low natural levels of iron is sea water limit plankton and other plant growth. Adding iron dust is essentially fertilizer for them. More plant growth eats more CO2 and feeds more fish. Hmm, maybe we need to bring back sub warfare to fix the oceans. LOTS of iron added to the oceans during WWII.
Really? It was on cable t.v. He claimed he was going to be paid by clients to do something or other. Reduce CO2, grow plankton, kill plankton, cool, heat, rotate the earth or something. AND all by dumping iron in the ocean!
There are areas of the ocean that are “deserts” because of a lack of nutrients. They won’t hurt fish because the fish don’t live there.
In case anybody is interested, if you google around, the FATHER of Modern Climatology (he won a Nobel Price for the advancement of the science) claimed the Ozone depletion theory (man made cause) was pure bunk, and furthermore, he said how to fix it.
He actually had iron filings dumped in the antarctic, and it proved (via the production of ozone) that he was right.
What is the problem here is junk (corrupt) science sold via state funding.
If ozone depletion (via fluorocarbons) really is a problem, then why is not chlorinated water evapiration a problem 100000X larger?????
I followed this when the “ozone hole” controversy first broke out....
BTW, there is RECORD ice right now in tha antarctic.....
QUOTE:
The iron spawned the growth of enormous amounts of plankton, which Mr. George, a former fisheries and forestry worker, said might allow the project to meet one of its goals: aiding the recovery of the local salmon fishery for the native Haida.
Plankton absorbs carbon dioxide, the predominant greenhouse gas, and settles deep in the ocean when it dies, sequestering carbon. The Haida had hoped that by burying carbon, they could also sell so-called carbon offset credits to companies and make money.
Iron fertilization is contentious because it is associated with geoengineering, a set of proposed strategies for counteracting global warming through the deliberate manipulation of the environment. Many experts have argued that scientists should be researching such geoengineering techniques — like spewing compounds into the atmosphere to reflect more sunlight or using sophisticated machines to remove carbon dioxide from the air. UNQUOTE
(Salmon fsherman will do just about anything to increase their catch!)
Blah, blah, blah...
If he broke a law, charge him. Otherwise shut the 'ef up.
Idiots.
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