Can we actually restore Earth's climate to safe pre-industrial conditions? According to scientist and entrepreneur Peter Fiekowsky, the answer is yes - and it's much more affordable and straightforward than you might think.
Fiekowsky has developed a framework for vetting climate solutions. He argues that meaningful solutions will be 1.Permanent 2.Scalable 3.Financeable and 4.Practical
The he created a long list of possible solutions and ran them thru his framework. What emerged, and is documented in his book Climate Restoration, are four remedies which will surprise and hopefully delight you. Here they are, strap on your curiosity cap dear listeners. In order to remove 1 trillion tons of pollution from the atmosphere… We need to do these 4 things:
1. Synthetic limestone manufacture
2. Seaweed permaculture
3. Ocean Iron Fertilization, OIF
4. Enhanced Atmospheric methane oxidation EAMO
What's fascinating is that over the course of the past two years since he wrote the book he's whittled the list down to just two of these… can you guess which two? I couldn't.
Peter Fiekowsky started out in astrophysics and became concerned about climate change while a student at MIT in the 1970s, thinking the problem would be solved by chemical engineers. After a career in tech, by 2010 he realized the climate was worsening and direct air carbon removal was neglected. The world was seemingly concerned with reducing emissions not reducing CO2 levels below pre industrial levels. This led him to refocus on climate solutions, first advocating renewable energy then stressing the need to restore pre-industrial CO2 levels.
In this episode, Peter Fiekowsky and I break down his framework and explore the four, now two critical solutions that we humans can apply today to remove excess carbon from the atmosphere. Note that his arrived upon solutions largely mimick natural processes, like the explosion of Mount Pinatubo in 1991 which pumped iron dust into the sky and then the ocean. That single event caused atmospheric CO2 levels to flatten because iron is a limiting nutrient for ocean phytoplankton. Hence the realization that we can use iron to fertilize massive growth of C02 absorbing microorganisms in the ocean which covers 70 percent of Earth.
Fiekowsky argues that most current climate proposals are too incremental. Instead of just stabilizing today's unsafe CO2 levels, we should boldly aim to get back to under 300 ppm like in pre-industrial times. He makes an optimistic case that for around one billion dollars per year, we could launch natural carbon removal processes to hit that target by 2050.
Fiekowsky explains the specifics about how iron dust stimulation and seaweed permaculture can reduce atmospheric carbon at scale. He also delves into how public pressure and endorsements from environmental organizations are key to convincing governments and philanthropists to fund climate restoration.
If you're concerned about climate change, don't miss this solutions-focused discussion about how we can realistically restore a safe climate for future generations. The path forward is more viable than you might have thought!
Key Takeaways
1. What are some key permanent, scalable, financeable methods for removing excess carbon from the atmosphere?
2. How exactly does ocean iron fertilization work to draw down carbon?
3. What is seaweed permaculture and how does it solve the carbon problem?
4. How can public pressure and endorsements help drive governments and philanthropists to fund climate restoration solutions?
5. Should we aim to stabilize current unsafe CO2 levels or restore pre-industrial levels below 300 ppm?
https://www.linkedin.com/in/pfiekowsky/
https://www.peterfiekowsky.com/
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