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Politics : The Environmentalist Thread -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: neolib who wrote (20533)	2/20/2008 3:21:39 AM
From: Hawkmoon	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 36921

We have discussed that one before. I think it does have promise as well, but I don't think it is a simple cure all. Never said it was.. But if the patient is suffering respiratory problems, it will do no good making them stop smoking if their lungs continue to be ravaged by poor nutrition. And that's what oceanic phytoplankton are, the lungs of the planet.. They are responsible for the VAST majority of CO2 sequestration, not the rain forest. And so long as scientists continue to ignore the health of phytoplankton populations, any attempts to decrease atmospheric CO2 will only find the target moving farther and farther away from them. Thus, it would make sense to pay significant attention to finding ways to restore the damage (unintended that it might be) we've done to the ocean's flora at the same time we're trying to figure out how to reduce atmospheric CO2.. Bottom line.. the scientific community has continually failed to recognize the importance of phytoplankton to preserving the planet's ability to sequester CO2. They fail to recognize that this might also be what is responsible for depleted fisheries. And it doesn't matter whether it's because of improved soil conservation, or just a cyclical decrease of airborne nutrient deposits into the ocean. The result is still the same, decrease ability to absorb atmospheric CO2. So, the scientific GW community needs to start paying attention, and FAST. Because we might be totally ignoring the primary reason for global increases in CO2, depletion of oceanic phytoplankton. Just don't know how to put it any plainer than that. Hawk