KILL or cure? James Lovelock, the British planetary scientist and originator of the , has endorsed a potential cure for the 鈥減athology鈥� of global warming, but has admitted that it could make matters worse.
The idea is to tether millions of vertical pipes across the oceans to pump nutrient-rich deep water to the surface. These waters would fertilise the growth of algae, which in turn fix carbon dioxide. The pipes, reaching to depths of 200 metres, would have flap valves at the bottom operated by the energy of waves, which would push deep water up the pipe ().
The concept, put forward with Chris Rapley of the Science Museum in London, is based on a proposal by Philip Kithil of the Santa Fe-based corporation Atmocean. Kithil suggested at a meeting of the American Geophysical Union last year that 100 million 10-metre diameter pumps across the oceans could capture one-quarter of human-made CO2 emissions.
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鈥�100 million pumps across the oceans could capture a quarter of our CO2 别尘颈蝉蝉颈辞苍蝉鈥�
The snag is that as well as being rich in nutrients, water rising up the pipes will be rich in carbon 鈥� this could mean CO2 is released into the atmosphere.
鈥淭he immediate reaction of nearly all the scientists I have spoken to has been no, it won鈥檛 work,鈥� says Lovelock. 鈥溞影稍磗 are usually negative about new ideas. Most times they are right; but not always.鈥� The stakes are so high, however, that the concept of using the Earth鈥檚 own energy 鈥渢o heal the planet鈥� should be considered, says Lovelock.
