Researchers at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution plan to dump 25,000 liters of chemicals into the ocean. More specifically, they want to pour sodium hydroxide, also known as caustic soda or lye, into the ocean off Cape Cod to slow climate change.
The unusual plan to age chemicals in the ocean is likely to face significant opposition, not just from US authorities, but also from local fishing communities and environmentalists, according to a report by local news station WBUR.
The idea is seemingly simple: by diluting very basic chemicals in the waters, one wants to increase the ocean’s ability to absorb carbon dioxide from the air, a process known as increasing ocean alkalinity (OAE).
Why do scientists want to dump chemicals into the ocean?
This is just one of many geoengineering initiatives aimed at slowing the progress of climate change, but the long-term effectiveness of these efforts remains uncertain, and critics are skeptical and concerned about the potential risks.
The Woods Hole research team claims that sodium hydroxide will have no lasting negative effects on marine life.
“And we care about the environment. We wouldn’t do this if we thought it would have a major impact on marine life,” said Dan McCorkle, co-principal investigator and recently retired Woods Hole researcher.
What other ideas do researchers have?
Other geoengineering efforts by other teams also aimed at combating climate change include releasing aerosolized particles into the stratosphere to diminish sunlight.
On the other hand, the OAE aims to slow down the decline in the ocean’s capacity to absorb CO2 emissions caused by human activity. When the gas is dissolved in seawater, the resulting carbonic acid increases ocean acidity, which can have devastating effects on marine life.
The added sodium hydroxide has the role of reversing this process, or at least mitigating it, write Futurism.
McCorkle and his colleagues recently applied for a federal permit from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for their experiment off the coast of Cape Cod and hope to expand the project for a larger test in the Gulf of Maine within the next year.
The team firmly believes that we must act now before it is too late.
“Given our inability or unwillingness to rapidly move away from burning fossil fuels, which we absolutely must, it may be important to start studying whether any of these methods will actually be useful,” said McCorkle, “if they will help pull carbon out of the atmosphere.”
Opposition to their plan is already mounting, with the Massachusetts Lobster Fishermen’s Association arguing in a recent letter to the EPA that more studies need to be done “before entire truckloads of liquid alkali are dumped into the ocean.”
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Source: www.descopera.ro
