Green Car Congress: Planktos Resurfaces

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Planktos Resurfaces

7 July 2008

The Planktos Science team has reformed following its earlier suspension of business and dissolution of its association with Solar Energy and Planktos Corp. (Earlier post.) Planktos had intended to use ocean iron fertilization to stimulate the growth of plankton and enhance carbon capture with a view to selling carbon credits.

The founders and people of Planktos dissolved all association with Planktos Corp. and Solar Energy as of February 2008. The decision of SOLAR to not complete the original funding agreement whereby the Planktos team was to the join forces with it to create and operate the public company and other difficulties were cited as the reason for the dissolution.

The new company Planktos Science, based in the San Francisco Bay area with affiliate offices in Canada and the European Union, will proceed with its work on “Ecorestoration” of damaged ecosystems both at sea and on land. The company expects to be able to “regain its momentum having shed the substantial burdens of being a public company.”

The need to engage in ecorestoration to bring our natural ecosystems back to some part of the health they enjoyed as recent as a few decades ago has never been more urgent. The blizzard of reports on the rapidity of the collapse of the ocean ecosystem in particular is terrifying, we can only hope that we might repair some of the harm already done and growing more critical. A timid conservation only ethic will simply serve to render us spectators in the demise of a habitable planet.

—Russ George, President/CEO/Chief Scientist

July 7, 2008 in Brief | Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBack (0)

Comments

Feed the Plankton, bring the Ocean back to life. Get paid by carbon offset credits.

Sounds like a winning combination.

Posted by: John Taylor | July 07, 2008 at 09:26 AM

john

Until it is proven that it effectively works and doesn't create more problem than it fixes. This guy wanted to make a business with something that has not yet been proven efficient (pouring massive amount of iron in the ocean) neither safe to the environment.

there have been a dozen of experiemnt trying to trigger the blooming of algue using iron fertilizer, only a couple have shown some promise, the problem appears more complex than previously thought

Posted by: Treehugger | July 07, 2008 at 03:23 PM

Ha, Russ George! Is that nutbar still trying to get people to give him money in exchange for dumping a tonnes of iron filings into the ocean? Gawd....I can't believe he is still around......

Posted by: Thomas | July 08, 2008 at 12:24 AM

The carbon credits idea may bring out new valid ideas, but it may bring out crack pots and scams as well. Be careful what you wish for.

Posted by: sjc | July 10, 2008 at 08:10 AM

Cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 90% means cutting energy production by 90%. Look at low energy societies to see the PROVEN disaster this means. A slight gamble on dumping iron in the ocean is insignificant in comparison.

Posted by: John | July 31, 2008 at 07:16 PM

You guys just don't get it. Planktos was going to accelerate what nature does on it's own.
Humankind has accelerated global warming by it's actions - Planktos' experiments over 20 years and $200 million of investment in the project have provided conclusive results that this approach would slow down and even possibly reverse the current co2 levels in the atmosphere. Don't you guys read?
If they make money doing so, what's it to you? Nothing is free. "Green" companies and corporations selling "green" consumer services and products make money also.
Planting and saving trees on the planet isn't contested, so why are there so many protests to seeding the oceans, which is a far faster approach?
How much co2 goes into the air when a tree burns? It seems tree-planting has it's risks, as well.
Planktos' team was conducting it's tests when most of you people were in the cradle, smoking pot, or just plain ignoring the possibility of global warming and climate change...wake the hell up.

Posted by: simon | November 14, 2008 at 06:12 AM