How to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere with olivine


Back in 2012, I read this article by John Rennie at ZDNet which literally changed my life.  It describes scientific research that proves (in laboratory research) that mining olivine (a green mineral that is abundant on Earth), crushing it and distributing it in shallow tidal basins in the oceans where there is significant wave action will have two effects: pull carbon dioxide right out of the air, and also de-acidify the oceans at the same time.

The authors of the paper claim that if we were to do this at scale, humans would be able to remove the amount of C02 produced in a year.  In other words, it would be like humans just didn't produce any carbon dioxide that year.  If that were to happen, the C02 level would stop rising, and the oceans would stop becoming more acidic.  That, combined with lower carbon dioxide emissions in general, could halt our current climate change trend.  This "enhanced weathering" technique doesn't require olivine (it could be a different mineral with the same properties), nor does the mineral need to go into the ocean to be, um, enhancely weathered.  

What is "at scale," though?  It's going to take money.  Like, several hundred billion dollars to mine approximately seven cubic miles of olivine, crush it, and then deliver it into shallow tidal basins.  We already mine olivine for other purposes, so one can easily imagine increasing output to match the need.

How would we make it work?  I think that's the fundamental question that is the silent elephant in every climate change debate.  We're really saying, "How are we going to pay for it?"  Or, "Who is going to pay for it?  Because it's not going to be ____!"  [insert me the taxpayer, or me the oil company, or me the government...]  

But what if it WAS?

What if EVERYONE suddenly WOKE UP ONE DAY and decided HEY!  Taking care of my planet is my responsibility!  How can I do that?  Can I work in one of the olivine mines?  Drive one of the delivery boats?  Greet workers with hot coffee?  What can I do??  Because if we all pitched in and contributed to one proven, scientific method of reducing the amount of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere, we could do that.  For humans everywhere, and all life on this planet as well.

Ha ha you say.  You blogger, you.  Blah blah no plan, no hope.  But I say:
  1. Raise awareness about global warming globally, and about C02 through social media.
  2. Find or establish a Foundation to implement the Scientific Solution at Scale.
  3. Leverage global electronic donation systems to collect donations on behalf of the Foundation.
  4. Fund the Foundation and let it... do it's thing.  Do it's stuff.
  5. Life on Earth goes on.
I know I'm ahead of the curve - we still live in a world where climate change is a major story, not the ONLY story.  But the curve is far steeper than any of realize, I'm afraid - we need to act now to keep our fish tank Earth habitable.  



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