Can we trick the ocean into swallowing more CO2?

Marine environments are effective at capturing carbon and storing it for thousands of years. But what if we could engineer them to capture even more? Can they take on this burden?
Credits
Reporter: Emily Leshner
Video Editor: Markus Mörtz
Supervising Editor: Malte Rohwer-Kahlmann & Kiyo Dörrer
We're destroying our environment at an alarming rate. But it doesn't need to be this way. Our new channel Planet A explores the shift towards an eco-friendly world - and challenges our ideas about what dealing with climate change means. We look at the big and the small: What can we do and how the system needs to change. Every Friday we'll take a truly global look at how to get us out of this mess.
#PlanetA #BlueCarbon #Ocean
Read more:
Cloud spraying and hurricane slaying: how ocean geoengineering became the frontier of the climate crisis: www.theguardian.com/environme...
The science behind Vesta Research: www.vesta.earth/science
Could the ocean hold the key to reducing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere? newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/us...
The Role of Blue Carbon in Climate Change Mitigation and Carbon Stock Conservation: www.frontiersin.org/articles/...
Blue Carbon - Integrating Ocean Ecosystems in Global Climate Action: www.conservation.org/docs/def...
Chapters:
00:00 Intro: Lungs of our planet
00:42 What is blue carbon?
02:44 Restoring coastal ecosystems
03:50 Engineering the ocean with a flow reactor
05:42 Enhanced weathering with olivine dumping
08:23 Conclusion: Which approach is best?

[@DWPlanetA]

Do you think that more CO2 in the oceans will help us mitigate the climate crisis?

[@Tech_tips9980]

Certainly yes as around 70% Planet Earth covered by oceans

[@Bash70]

Yes, let's acidify the ocean more and wipe more marine life to extinction. Sounds amazing

[@jjj262]

No.

[@SanthoshPonrajETE]

As you say , we should prioritize 0 emissions to artificial carbon absorption

[@estebanalbertolopezcaminok9572]

Tanto ego y estupidez humana. No somos dueños de los océanos. No hay que arreglar lo que no está roto. Los mares tardaron millones de años en encontrar el equilibrio y algunos creen que tiene el derecho de modificarlo. Estupidez humana se llama la película.

[@luilarotta4731]

Ocean acidification is one of the concerns I feel we haven't discussed as much. I'm glad people are innovating new solutions to deal with this.

[@PlanetZeroVideos]

They didn't really discuss this in the video, but olivine is actually a great pH buffer. Once dissolved in seawater, it will actively raise the pH beyond just through removal of CO2. It literally addresses two problems at the same time and doesn't introduce anything unnatural into the ocean. The amount that would need to be ground into powder for this to be feasible is pretty absurd though.

[@debbiehenri345]

Since CO2 causes acidification in our oceans, then locking it away by adding olivine, planting Mangroves (which you can actually do for free atm by going the Microsoft weather app, do a few simple game-like 'tasks' to grow a virtual tree, Microsoft then sponsoring the planting of a real Mangrove trees in Kenya), and farming seaweed/shellfish will actually de-acidify the oceans and help to normalise it again.

[@jyotirmoypoddersagor7933]

Farming in the ocean through the method of IMTA (Integrated Multi-trophic Aquaculture) can bring a feasible solution. It offers the scope of farming seaweed, fish, and shellfish at a time with less emission of carbon, and little use of fertilizer or pesticide.

[@philippanicker5618]

Brilliant. Much more simpler, and uses natural processes. No need to expend energy (and man power, and money and fuel and electricity and materials) to capture CO2 which the processes in this video require. And it brings economic returns, which helps create jobs and improve the livelihoods of people involved, which in turn creates a goodwill towards nature.

[@jyotirmoypoddersagor7933]

@@philippanicker5618 I guess, IMTA could be a source of solar energy too, if the aqua-photovoltaic method is integrated with it.

[@VeganSemihCyprus33]

The Connections (2021) [short documentary] 🌳💖

[@ninemoonplanet]

West Coast of Canada HAD salmon farms in the ocean. They'll be completely gone for good because of the damage to the entire coastal ecosystems.

[@SaveMoneySavethePlanet]

There’s another action that Americans can take immediately in order to help: call your senators and tell them to support the RISEE act. This is an act environmentalists are currently trying to get passed because it will dedicate new funds to rebuilding our coastlines like the beginning of the video mentions. That way, we can protect areas which are already operating as carbon sinks and even help them expand so they can take up even more carbon! Who knows, maybe that program will even eventually use Olivine if it’s proven to work….but the program needs funding first…

[@ac7205]

🙏😇🙏

[@VeganSemihCyprus33]

The Connections (2021) [short documentary] 🌳💖

[@darylmckay]

My main concern here is that most of these "solutions" will enable business as usual with carbon polluting industries and not actually changing the way we live, which is the real issue. If technology allows us not to change humanity will choose that rather than treating it as bridging technology.

[@MormonDude]

I mean, most carbon capture technologies would enable that situation. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t pursue them lol

[@gregorymalchuk272]

Why would that be a problem if all of the car in is being sunk to the deep ocean (where oil comes from)?

[@VeganSemihCyprus33]

The Connections (2021) [short documentary] 🌳💖

[@darylmckay]

@@MormonDude you blew your credibility with "lol"...

[@darylmckay]

@@gregorymalchuk272 apart from the fact you completely missed my point, not all oil comes from the sea for a start, and the methods discussed are basically disposing of our garbage in the sea. You seriously don't see any issues with that?

[@ZarlanTheGreen]

Worthy endeavours? Absolutely! As long as no one is allowed to get away with thinking, that this cancels out the carbon pollution they are doing, and use it as an excuse to not reduce/eliminate their carbon output.

[@bpesta10]

These videos are always so well done. Great work!

[@Kevin_Street]

I was skeptical when I saw your title, but those are all good ideas! Restoring coastal ecosystems like mangrove forests and sea grass is something we should be doing anyway, so that makes sense. I'm not sure that carbon sequestration is even the best reason for replanting, since the carbon is only sequestered while the ecosystem is there. If someone decides to build a resort and wipes out a mangrove swamp, the carbon that was in it will go right back into the atmosphere. The real reason for restoring these places is maintaining biological diversity and the greater ecosystem of the oceans as a whole. Real carbon sequestration should lock away the carbon dioxide for hundreds or thousands of years, so we can't unintentionally screw up and release it all again. That's what makes the flow reactor sound like a really good idea. It's a direct solution that sounds more tenable than other carbon capture methods I've heard, like burying dried algae. Unfortunately it shares the scale problem of other direct methods. There's just so much CO2 to remove, it will take a vast army of flow reactors running constantly to make even a dent in the problem. Could such a thing be financed through carbon credits? The best solution of the three, _if it works_ , is probably the olivine dumping. It directly removes the carbon by turning it into minerals, and it uses natural forces like the waves and sea creatures to magnify its effect for less cost than something like the flow reactor. It sounds like dumping a relatively small amount of olivine could have a large effect. Repeat that year after year and it might actually make a difference. And while it isn't innately profitable, if they keep combining it with beach restoration like they're doing now it should be possible to get people to pay for it. But all three of these are good ideas, and like they said in the video, _everything_ helps. The problem is too large for any one solution, so we need to do everything that makes any kind of sense.

[@user-wi6uk3om3j]

The sea organisms consume almost as much oxygen as it is produced there, we could not relay on that source. Every few seconds, we cut down a hectare of forest to grow crops so we can feed animals for meat, eggs and dairy. These forests are in fact, our main real source of oxygen and carbon sequestrators. Creating these innovative machines is cool, but we should remember that reconsidering our food choices as a consumer, makes the biggest impact

[@thesilentone4024]

Like native foods and stop changing the environment to the crop just change the crop to the environment tada problem solved.

[@locacharliewong]

Is it including eat the all parts of the animal? If so, as a Chinese, I think we did quite well. It's the American afraid to eat them all parts. Chicken feet, apart from the meat, we take different parts of pig organs into street food. So as parts of the cow as well.

[@primezeroth]

@@locacharliewong or just stop eating meat especially endangered animals .. if Chinese kill and eat everything nothing will be left alive

[@anxiousearth680]

I'm not sure about carbon sequestering but don't the oceans make up for 50%+ of our O2 production? "Scientists estimate that 50-80% of the oxygen production on Earth comes from the ocean. The majority of this production is from oceanic plankton - drifting plants, algae, and some bacteria that can photosynthesize." -How much oxygen comes from the oceans, US NOAA

[@VeganSemihCyprus33]

The Connections (2021) [short documentary] 🌳💖

[@BeingCringeIsNormal]

Quality content! Love to see you guys described technology that help solving the pain point!🎉

[@sebastiangruenfeld141]

Very informative as always. Could you please do a video on ocean fertilization? It's basically yeeting iron dust into the ocean which is used by algae/plankton as food which in turn pulls CO2 out of the atmosphere and sinks to the bottom of the ocean. It seems like such a simple solution which makes me wonder why we aren't doing it on a large scale. There have been German studies to it decades ago but I don't think they went anywhere.

[@Anncrohr]

Dumping huge amounts of anything is prohibited internationally by the London convention. That also includes iron of any sort for fertilization, so there had to be a change in laws first before even just experiments in moderate scale could be conducted and evaluated. If would have a huge impact on the fertilized ecosystems, so close monitoring would be crucial at first.

[@dalewalkonen7847]

Peter Fiekowsky's book, Climate Restoration, goes into this in detail. He describes what happens when it's done in the deep ocean - phytoplankton quickly increase and attract whales and other marine life. A lot of CO2 is sequestered! It has been successful.

[@gaia3520]

You have to make a video about Pleistocene Park. The amount of CO2 that could be captured+ the prophylaxis to prevent more CO2/methane from entering the atmosphere is enormous.

[@nerdlingeeksly5192]

If his machine can create limestone then there are plenty of Industries who will want the waste product

[@anandhuashok4353]

Hoping these two technology would become a huge success. Best wishes for the teams

[@ashukalipahari9965]

Awesome 👍 video with great knowledge

[@Marco-fn6kg]

i love the olivine idea wow

[@knuttella]

fascinating!

[@Tech_tips9980]

I'm proud to be a member of DW planet A

[@Diana1000Smiles]

Congratulations. I'm grateful for Internet service which could end at any moment.

[@vaibhavsharma1496]

We should focus more on controlling methane release in atmosphere. It can be done easily and can be used as fuel.

[@rajlal2384]

Hi PhD in air quality/climate change here and frequent commenter... Carbon capture will be a part of the climate change mitigation portfolio, but it shouldn't be the driving solution, particularly considering the technology isn't mature yet and it's not yet economical (as mentioned in the video). Targeting emissions should be the focus, which will have additional benefits including air pollution emission reductions. Targeting emissions will promote efficiency and thus cost savings

[@kennyomega8937]

I love this channel🙂

[@brianadams901]

Thank you for posting this wonderful video! Can I, by any chance, repost your channel on the Gan Jing World platform? Of course I will keep everything as is and also include your channel as source.

[@GairikBanerjee]

What about Seaweed Farming on a grand scale?

[@nicholaidajuan865]

I think you missed the biggest opportunity. Fertilization of the ocean to encourage algae and phytoplankton bloom by re-suspending whats on the sea floor. It works for sea mounts, and islands in the south pacific

[@DWPlanetA]

@Nicholai Dajuan Thanks for your comment! Algae is a real climate hero 🦸 Here's a whole video on the topic you might be interested in: kzbin.info/www/bejne/mJTcepWnaLObf5I 🙃

[@nicholaidajuan865]

@@DWPlanetA nice one

[@esfromjapan7616]

From Japan. I really like DWs video. But i cant understand the mentioned number that co2 emission at 2021 is 50％ more than industrial revolution. Does it means atmospheric concentration? （you mean the shift from 280ppm to 420ppm, right?）

[@DWPlanetA]

Hi S, thank you for posing this question. According to the NOAA and their measurements, they have found that carbon dioxide at the mountaintop observatory on Hawaii's Big Island averaged 420.99 parts per million (ppm), an increase of 1.8 ppm over 2021. Scientists who work at Scripps - which maintains an independent record - has calculated that the monthly average is around 420.78 ppm. You can read more here: www.noaa.gov/news-release/carbon-dioxide-now-more-than-50-higher-than-pre-industrial-levels 🌍

[@esfromjapan7616]

@@DWPlanetA Thanks for refering me to information source! It's interesting since I hadn't seen such data that CO2 conc is increasing linearly. I'll teach this my japanese colleagues because japanese people really really is not environmentally conscious😭

[@jonas7510]

how much energy / carbon debt do these ideas cost ? rocks don't quarry , grind down , or transport themselves , do they ?

[@PlanetZeroVideos]

No they dont, and the grinding process for olivine is one of the most carbon intensive parts of the whole idea. You'll end up having to grind even more to offset the carbon it cost just to get it where it needs to be. Still one of the best ideas for geoengineering though.

[@notlessgrossman163]

How about harvesting the sargassum algae blooms increasing due to climate change? Sargassum algae makes great animal feed and fertilizer

[@teyhoonboon5853]

The research on green engineering provide some hope for the world to mitigate climate change . The success or failure of research is better than doing nothing at all.

[@aarononeal9830]

Dw plantet A needs to talk about Ecosia they are a search engine that plants trees

[@tedkrasicki3857]

The oceans cycle 45 billion tons of phytoplankton per year. Dust is one source of nutrients for this to happen. We should be able to increase this dust fall with well placed explosions to feed the winds.

[@DavidHembrow]

an interesting message but the irritating background music makes it difficult to concentrate on.

[@katemakingwaves]

Wouldn't this just make ocean acidification worse? I'm a marine ecologist and whenever I see solutions like these, I wonder if anyone thought about the consequences for nature... If the fake shells sink to the ocean floor, they'll dissolve (because they can't stay intact below the CCD), and then we've just got sped up ocean acidificatio, right? We should really start looking at lowering emissions properly, aggressively, and right now, instead of forcing nature to work overtime to even out our crap. If we throw the water chemistry off balance, we'll be harming all kinds of organisms from single-celled to giant. Anything with a shell would be directly affected by sped-up ocean acidification, but even organisms without a shell rely on the gradient (difference) between the outside and inside. If the outside isn't what they were made for, they have to work harder to keep their insides the way they need them to survive. This, like faking volcanic eruptions sounds like a very bad band-aid. AND irreversible. Once we mess this up, we can't undo it. PS: It took me a while to figure out that your video is beeping and not my house. Especially at 2x watch speed, that beep in the background is really annoying. (Sorry, fellow KZbinr here, so I thought you'd like to know)

[@jstwatchnread8420]

Just warming up sea water around sahara, they will evaporate & greening sahara into rainforest then sucked co2 even more, sahara become desert because of cold current ocean that not easy to form cloud..

[@PlanetZeroVideos]

I'm a little upset that ocean iron fertilization was not mentioned in this video. If humanity is serious about avoiding the worst outcomes of climate change, we need to consider every idea for removing CO2 from the oceans. It has been experimentally proven (EIFEX) that carbon can be sequestered into the deep ocean by fertilizing surface waters with iron to promote the growth of plankton. This could be one of the most cost effective ways of removing CO2 from the air and oceans at a significant level.

[@debbiehenri345]

It is going to take a large number of solutions to 'begin' to extract excess CO2 from our atmosphere and oceans. However, the biggest change must come from us - from reducing our need to constantly buy needless 'stuff' manufactured by those countries who simply don't care what they do to the planet, acting primarily to make lots of money in the cheapest ways possible. One thing about the Olivine...what are the CO2 emissions of mining, transporting and crushing this mineral in comparison to the amount of CO2 it finally extracts?

[@danielvonbose557]

Take a thorium reactor on the Columbia plateau as a primary energy source to grid basalt to provide a basic raw material, ground basalt, which has obvious uses. From there is can be transported by letting the Columbia River transport it as sediment to Puget sound where it enters the coastal environment to undergo the weathering process. It could also be used by agriculture to supply calcium, magnesium, and iron.

[@m.ste84]

We need skyscraper sized Bong's that forces air deep into the ocean.. Boom done 👍

[@mikaeljohanssonholmstrom6965]

Carbon sequestration needs to be combined with ecosystem regeneration and bringing wealth back to coastal communities. (Plus regulations to stop industrial fishing.) Check out marine permaculture such as Climate Foundation or Greenwave!

[@ryanandal5525]

Corals will suffer.

[@rajendratayya8400]

We need to think more creatively than merely conserving the ecosystems. Unlike conservation, creation is “something out of nothing” - the free existence of nature.

[@mouaragon2774]

Colombia*

[@holbrookmiddlefield4555]

Don’t even try. Cut your co2 emission.

[@shadowgirl11]

We need our governments to take a stand for our environment

[@granadakimj]

The best thing we can do, is STOP BURNING STUFF in the first place...!

[@Paulo44.01]

I think you meant were emitting 50% more CO2 than in 2000 at the beginning of the video. We're emitting about 10x more CO2 per year now than in the start of the 1900s, and the start of the industrial revolution was much before that

[@takuan650]

Great and relatively simple ideas. Getting rid of lame brained politicians and share holders is a much harder task.

[@tomdonahoe3539]

Photosynthesis?

[@Akonu]

Why not promote algea growth in deep waters? That removes a lot of co2 out of the atmosphere

[@danjatau4379]

Nice one....just a naive thought..has anyone considered concentrating Co2 and pumping it outside the planet?..if it has been considered please someone send me a link... cheers

[@albertogog8567]

You have played too many games hahaha. I don't think that's a viable solution. First because there is no good way to launch co2 to the space (rockets probably produce more co2 than they can store, a pipe to the space? Not viable, it will break (search space elevator from real engineering, it's not the same, but an elevator is fundamentally a pipe). Even if you can condense co2 enough to make it feasible, it would be easier to store it here in earth. There is something called carbon capture, research that. (Didn't mean to offend you on the first sentence)

[@danjatau4379]

It's all good no offense taken I do play games and read comics.. Helps expand my mind I think... I believe everything alot of the things we experience possible today were once deemed impossible. Start with the improbable picture and fill it with possible details... Yes I was thinking of pipe delivery system from a source point on the ground or atmosphere that leads straight outside the upper atmosphere within an agreed no fly zone.. The materials to move gas are available, those that can withstand temperature change and pressures are available... Its just the set up that isnt. And although it's likely to have an expensive capex the operating costs ought to be alot lower than running a space shuttle. I am aware of the afew of the carbon capture methods but fundamentally its just recycling the carbon in the system.. The system am referring to takes the excess carbon from a smaller system to a larger system. Food for thought..

[@albertogog8567]

@@danjatau4379 I meant no material can withstand the rotative force of the earth. I also play games

[@anxiousearth680]

You're thinking of a space elevator. Problem is, current material science cannot manage building something that high up. Any material would collapse under its own weight. And there's also space debris.

[@VeganSemihCyprus33]

The Connections (2021) [short documentary] 🌳

[@hanzee9008]

🕊

[@tedkrasicki3857]

Make the weather and the Sahara desert work for us. Meteorologists, geologists, and engineers can pick the conditions of wind at the right place and use explosives to create massive dust storms that will deposit dusts onto the ocean. Harness nature to enrich the waters and create blooms of lifeforms taking up the carbon they need. Just speeding up natural process a bit.

[@GameplayTubeYT]

They say CO2 make the Ocean Acidic?

[@homo-sapiens-dubium]

great ideas that need funding - easiest way to do this is push harder on carbon taxes. Make emissions cost is the only way to reduce them - sadly!

[@mack-uv6gn]

How about live in balance with the earth?🤔

[@Diana1000Smiles]

What a nice comment. 💙 I'm not being sarcastic, I'm smiling. Thank you.

[@mack-uv6gn]

@@Diana1000Smiles thanks👍🙂

[@DanA-nl5uo]

Anything to distract from the real problem our over consumption of energy.

[@arcan762]

How many attempts did it take for the presenter to say Maria's name right?

[@harttdm]

Good luck. Iron fertilization of oceans has been a thing for almost 30 years and it’s still debated and unused. We know what we can do. We just can’t do it, not because of the technology but because of the people. Technology isn’t the problem, agreement is.

[@Phil-D83]

Mangroves

[@Fellowtellurian]

The solution is public engagement. We need people to care and take steps where they can. Too many people think, it isn't their problem to del with.

[@savannahmiddlefield616]

Don’t you dare to scroll you waste into ocean.

[@hrushikeshavachat900]

We need to de-carbonize our transport sector. The transpoer sector contributes the largest chunk of our carbon emissions

[@thatundeadlegacy2985]

You want more green deserts?

[@ranadeep7462]

2:35

[@muzwot9603]

'''''' No

[@BoydGilbreath]

So they got nothing.

[@JJs_playground]

If Maria just shortness her name, that right there, would cut carbon emissions by half. 🤣

[@permiebird937]

How much energy do these high tech solutions require? Grinding rock is an energy intensive process, where does the energy come from? Nature moves fast when the right conditions are met. To restore the beaver, the streams may need some trees planted and a bit of stream development to make it viable for the relocated beaver family, but within a year they will have water storage and flood control sorted out as they are sequestering carbon. Just like other healthy wetlands. If we restored beaver to their historic ranges, they would manage flooding, keep rivers flowing year round, recharge aquifers, as they sequester carbon. There are so many things humanity could do to help sequester carbon, many of the low cost, but too many people want to invent or discover a way to sequester carbon that makes the inventor or finder a lot of money. I keep feeling this channel falls for blind techno worship periodically, where the interesting ideas about a solution doesn't get much scrutiny about the down sides, like crushing rocks is an energy intensive activity how is that part of the process managed without huge fossil fuel inputs. It feels a bit like you are trying to hide the unfortunate truths about some of these projects.

[@threadbarerag336]

carbonic acid

[@neutralmind1691]

But planet be like dread it run from it Destiny arrives all the same

[@gordonspond8223]

It would help a lot if we dumped most of our politicians and their cronies on an uninhabited island somewhere in the middle of the Pacific.

[@slothgirl2107]

This is hopeful but I don’t think our species will take it seriously. So we’ll probably all die🤷‍♀️

[@elismart13]

you guys used to have a better voiceover person.. that made your brand more you where did they go?

[@SultanSalahddin]

For the love of God plant some trees !

[@robertodimatteo1046]

"Emission reduction should be prioritised",but ways of capturing carbon should be pushed to get better results right now

[@straightuntotruth]

DW: Trick the “NATURE”. NATURE: do something realistic bruh! Talk to Putin.

[@JJs_playground]

Although expensive, I think direct air capture (DAC) is a better alternative. We should not be messing around with the ocean, we don't know what unintended consequences there may be by us tempering with it.

[@AABoyer]

Bad bad science

[@Crowfist]

Ocean acidification has entered the chat

[@deepashtray5605]

A glaring absence in the video.

[@Crowfist]

@@deepashtray5605 anything but reduction amirite ;D ... ... ... D;

[@starcityrc3298]

CO2 is good for the environment. This is grade school stuff

[@Ef554rgcc]

This is disgusting.

[@prashanthjames9102]

I don't believe that there is a problem with carbon emissions, it will always exist as a natural cycle on the earth. Attitude needs to change from consumerism to conservationism in the mind of man.

[@oneshothunter9877]

In chemistry balance is very important. One atom less or one more can change everything. H2o is what we call water. H2o2 is what we call hydrogen peroxide. One oxygen atom!

[@GoingtoHecq]

I just want to mention that magical thing called nuclear power.

[@meriannebratu2921]

What we should do Save plastic and reuse it so it doesn’t go in trash♻️♻️ Take water from the ocean, freeze it into an ice block and put it back End climate change by planting millions of forests Petrol should be stopped, use electric cars Unite and tell your friends abou what’s going on Put your thinking hats on and buy Direct air trap

[@Diana1000Smiles]

How is electricity made in your pretend World? Also, isn't this a Commercial?

[@deepashtray5605]

You don't seem to have any background in physics at all.