Exciting Scientific Discovery!
Knee-jerk consensus “Actions” have “Consequences”
Climate ‘fix’ could poison sea life
Fertilising the oceans with iron to absorb carbon dioxide could increase concentrations of a chemical that can kill marine mammals, a study has found.
Iron stimulates growth of marine algae that absorb CO2 from the air, and has been touted as a “climate fix”.
Now researchers have shown that the algae increase production of a nerve poison that can kill mammals and birds.
Writing in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, they say this raises “serious concern” over the idea.
Gee, ya think?
But remember, the science is clear
“We saw some literature going around with claims like ‘there is no indication of toxicity to sea life’ – well, if you don’t measure it, of course there’s no indication, and we have to keep that kind of legalese out of science,” he said.
Amen, Brother.
Gorebal Warming, Politics | Mr. Bingley | 
March 16, 2010 8:35 am
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It’s not climate change that scares me, it’s some of the bone-headed fixes that have been floated out there. Great opportunity to expand the use of “unexpected” though.
What if we tied chunks of iron to those environmentalists, and tossed that mixture into the ocean? Couldn’t hurt.
“We saw some literature going around with claims like ‘there is no indication of toxicity to sea life’ – well, if you don’t measure it, of course there’s no indication, and we have to keep that kind of legalese out of science,” he said.
That really is the money quote. And he realizes what’s really going on in this research. I mean, these papers are always couched with all kinds of ways for the researchers for CYA if someone refutes their findings. Their conclusions are always going to be full of “Further research is needed …”, “Of course our study was limited to …” and so on.
The more exposure I have to “legitimate research” the more I question how we actually discover anything any more.
Please tell me it’s not so bad in all fields of research, Ricki.
Ooh. I likey Jeff’s idea.
I like the idea of using certain environmentalists as reefs…what better way for them to show their dedication to Gaia?
Bings – drawback: they’re probably as poisonous to marine life as they are to the rest of us.