More and more people are realizing: Even if we reach net zero by 2050, or stay “well under” 2°C of warming, our survival will still be in serious doubt. That’s because there are already a trillion tons of CO2 in the atmosphere. This “legacy” CO2, emitted over the last 200 years, will continue to wreak havoc in our world—whether or not we decrease future emissions to near-zero.
Methane is a potent greenhouse gas that causes about 1/3 of today’s global warming. Using Enhanced Atmospheric Methane Oxidation (EAMO), we can accelerate these processes and reduce atmospheric methane to pre-industrial levels. This could rewind warming back to 2002 levels by 2050 and protect humanity from catastrophic levels of melting permafrost.
Restoring our climate will require pulling a trillion tons of legacy carbon dioxide from the atmosphere by 2050. Farming seaweed, mainly fast-growing kelp and sargassum, can help achieve climate restoration.
Restoring the climate requires removing and storing a trillion tons of legacy CO2 by 2050. Nature has stored 99 percent of all the CO2 on earth in the form of limestone, made of calcium and CO2 by shellfish and other marine organisms.1 Nearly half carbon dioxide by weight, limestone is an ideal, permanent storage system for this greenhouse gas.
Ocean iron fertilization (OIF) appears to be the fastest, safest and most effective climate restoration solution although it was controversial for a time. OIF restores fisheries and other marine life while also reducing CO2 levels at the scale needed to restore the climate. It requires little or no public funding: instead, the process produces revenue and taxes from revived fisheries.
Everyone wants to restore a safe climate — one that humans have actually survived long-term. In this “pre-industrial” climate, which allowed us to develop agriculture and thriving civilizations, atmospheric CO2 never rose above 300 parts per million (ppm). Today, CO2 levels are 420 ppm. Yet now we know how to bring CO2 back down to pre-industrial levels—and could do so by 2050.
