Sinking seaweed
By Warren Cornwall, Science.
Excerpt: ...the potential benefits and risks of a controversial idea: growing seaweed to fight climate change. The concept has generated enthusiasm among entrepreneurs, philanthropists, and some scientists. They envision vast seaweed farms floating in the open ocean, where plants such as kelp would be grown and then sunk thousands of meters to the ocean floor, entombing the carbon for centuries. ompanies looking to feed the growing market for carbon credits have hatched a variety of strategies. ...But the strategy faces daunting, unanswered questions about how much carbon it might actually sequester, potential ecological effects, and whether coastal seaweed can thrive in the open ocean. ...some ocean scientists have called for a moratorium on the practice. It is unlikely to work as promised, they say, and threatens to upend ocean ecosystems....