Radical new ideas to fight climate change are being developed. A new idea called "geo-engineering", is a notion that climate change can be faught on a planetary-scale. Today marks the launch of a study of engineering put together by Britain's scientific community, the Royal Society. One such "geo-engineering" project includes adding iron as a nutrient to the seas becuase it can foster the growth of plankton, and in turn the plankton will absorb more carbon dioxide. After the plankton absorbs carbon dioxide, it sinks into the seabed and dies. Reducing carbon dioxide is an especially important project becuase emissions of greenhouse gasses show no sign of slowing. However, it is unknown whether or not the plankton will actually carry the carbon dioxide to the depths and keep it locked in there. Another potential problem is that since an ocean is a delicate ecosystem, this kind of a project could trigger some unexpected reaction and even make things worse. Some marine scientists simply say our oceans are to precious to meddle with. Environmental groups like Greenpeace agree and have campaigned to bring geo-engineering under control, saying that it is a distraction from cutting greenhouse gasses in the firstplace. If it did work, however, it would trap 1/8th of our greenhouse gas emissions.
If they can find a way to be sure that geo-engineering wouldn't further harm the earth, I would be for it, but if not I think we should stay away and maybe look into other options. Mainly I agree with Greenpeace, that we should focus on what caused the problem in the first place; excess greenhouse gasses, and try to reduce them before we do anything else.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7701006.stm
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