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Politics : Politics of Energy -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Wharf Rat who wrote (36013)	12/3/2012 4:44:45 PM
From: Hawkmoon	1 Recommendation Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 86356

Another RW myth, promulgated by the denial industry. RW? Real World? You assert their is a "denial industry". But I, as an individual attempting to maintain my objectivity, as well as as my healthy skepticism for any "Zeitgeist" than relies upon the kind of outright censorship and quashing of dissent, have no stake in it. I'm agnostic about GW, and certainly about AGW. I personally don't care what the source of CO2, whether natural or anthropogenic.. CO2 is plant food. Any increase it's atmospheric (or dissolved in ocean water) levels should result in expanded plant growth, given that all other required nutrients and conditions exist. This is why greenhouses actually increase their CO2 levels by up to 3 times, in order to accelerate plant growth. It shouldn't matter what the source of additional CO2 is, plants should be thriving because of it. So.. why aren't they uptaking this additional CO2?? That's the question I have.. And my reading and research suggests to me that Dr. John Martin is closest to the truth.. The oceans, which host phytoplankton that responsible for at least 50% of the photosynthesis on the planet, are anemic. They lack Iron, which is critical to the production of Chlorophyll. And we know there has been a 40% decline in Phytoplankton since 1950, which directly correlates with the surge in atmospheric CO2 levels over the same period of time. This is not a coincidence, IMO. Now.. why are the oceans anemic? Why is there insufficient Iron being deposited, or churned up from the ocean depths, to facilitate phytoplankton growth? Is it possible that the increased emissions of CO2 have exhausted natural levels of Iron, thereby limited additional oceanic floral growth? It's a real possibility. We do the same thing with our lawns and crops. We deplete the natural nutrients by over-cultivation. But then we add fertilizer to restore the soil's ability to support plant growth. This is what John Martin advocated. Restore the Iron deficiency and permit phytoplankton to access existing nutrients, and resume sequestering Carbon derived from uptake of CO2 through photosynthesis. Now you and your ilk can attempt to stir up panic about excessive CO2 levels and the impact on global temperatures all you want.. It's still a controversial theory. But there is NO DOUBT that a 40% depletion of the Marine Food Chain is wreaking havoc with our fisheries and all Marine life. And in interferes with the biological "pump" that takes carbon and sequesters it to the bottom of the ocean in the form of fecal matter and/or marine snow (dead Diatoms). So if your climate models are failing to incorporate a 25% decline in CO2 uptake by Phytoplankton over the past 60 years, I would dare say your "mainstream" climate scientists need to revisit their climate models and gain a better understanding of how life on this planet interacts and influences the climate. There is nothing at risk in undertaking more extensive research on Iron fertilization of the oceans. It's completely reversible. Stop fertilizing your lawn and it will revert back to where it was before.. But in the case of the oceans, when we fertilize phytoplankton, we restore the marine food chain to it's previous status of 60 years before. And it's quite likely that they will consume copius amounts of CO2 and restore CO2 levels to 1950s levels. Nothing to be lost, and everything to be gained by helping the planet's natural ecosystems to sustain themselves, regardless of the source of the extra CO2. Hawk