Carbon Dioxide is a major greenhouse gas that contributes to trapping heat leading to climate changes. The amount of carbon in the atmosphere has been increasing due to human activity such as the of burning fossil fuels. With the increased carbon in the atmosphere comes with effects like increasing the pH of oceans and increasing temperatures around the world. In order to combat these effects scientists have been working on projects to remove carbon from the atmosphere.
There are a couple of ways to
remove carbon from the atmosphere, the easiest and cheapest option is planting more trees. Trees and plants naturally pull carbon out of the atmosphere and is used in photosynthesis. Another newer approach is increase the ocean's pH by pouring sodium hydroxide in it. This is part of the LOC-NESS project, as teams of scientists have been pouring sodium hydroxide in the Atlantic ocean off the coast of Massachusetts. The idea is that with the increased pH level the ocean will absorb more carbon from the atmosphere. Hopefully these tactics will allow for the control of greenhouse gases and maintain the Earth's climate.
Although CO2 reduction is imperative to reducing climate change, I don't believe changing the ocean pH is the way. Besides the fact modifying ocean pH can be dangerous to marine ecosystem, it feels as if it's giving a sick patient a band-aid for their lesions. Sure it will help in the short term but the underlying cause, that being CO2 emissions due to global industry, will continue to cause excess CO2 and climate change.
ReplyDeleteI think that cutting down the significant amount of CO2 that we produce and letting the earth do its thing to find a healthy balance for itself, is another option to think about. Planting more trees is good as well, it allows for fresher air and they should be planted in wildlife where there might have been a wildfire, this can allow for nature to return to its natural peace.
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