Feeding Plankton for Fun and Profit

Russ George and his company Planktos want to save the world.  The idea: seed the ocean with iron to cause a plankton bloom that will pull CO₂ from the air then sell carbon credits to German factories.  The problem with this plan is simply how poorly understood planktonic ecosystems are.  Will the plankton actually fall to the bottom of the ocean as marine snow and actually remove carbon from the atmosphere or will they boom and decompose resulting in the release of methane and other greenhouse gases more dangerous than CO₂.



There are other potential catastrophes as well.  Reduced biodiversity in the plankton, emergence of diseases, toxic red tides and many other problems could be caused by this method.



From NYTimes