FW: About 'Local Ocean Fertilization'
rob...@rtulip.net
Conversation between Peter Fiekowsky, Brian von Herzen, Metta Spencer and Robert Tulip about issues arising from a recent article by Peter on Local Ocean Fertilization.
Link to Video: https://projectsavetheworld.substack.com/p/episode-742-local-ocean-fertilization
Regards
Robert Tulip
From: Project Save the World from Project Save the World's Substack <projectsa...@substack.com>
Sent: Friday, 16 January 2026 4:32 PM
To: rob...@rtulip.net
Subject: About 'Local Ocean Fertilization'
Peter Fiekowsky, Brian von Herzen, and Robert Tulip discuss the concept of local ocean fertilization to cool the planet by feeding phytoplankton, which remove CO 2. Eddies send it to the depths.
͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
About 'Local Ocean Fertilization'Peter Fiekowsky, Brian von Herzen, and Robert Tulip discuss the concept of local ocean fertilization to cool the planet by feeding phytoplankton, which remove CO 2. Eddies send it to the depths.
On a digital call spanning continents and time zones, a group of scientists and policy experts gathered recently on a Project Save the World Zoom panel to discuss a proposition that is as hopeful as it is controversial: the idea that we can repair the Earth’s climate by adding a smidgeon of iron to the ocean surface, thereby feeding the phytoplankton, which remove carbon from the atmosphere. Hosted by Metta Spencer, a veteran sociologist and peace researcher who has turned her attention to the urgent field of climate restoration, the conversation brought together three distinct voices in the fight against global warming. There was Peter Fiekowsky, an American physicist and author of Climate Restoration; Robert “Robbie” Tulip, an Australian policy expert and founder of Iron Salt Aerosol; and Brian von Herzen, an ocean scientist and Executive Director of the Climate Foundation. Their topic was not merely the reduction of emissions—the standard refrain of climate accords—but the active repair of the atmosphere through a refined technique known as “Local Ocean Fertilization.” The premise is audacious: by mimicking nature’s own processes, we may be able to sequester carbon dioxide at a gigaton scale, all while restoring decimated marine ecosystems. The Biological Pump To understand the proposal, one must first understand how the planet breathes. As Fiekowsky explained to viewers, nature has a historical track record of managing carbon dioxide. Before and during ice ages, CO2 levels drop significantly, often by roughly 1,000 gigatons. The primary engine for this removal is the ocean—specifically, the microscopic plant life known as phytoplankton.
Peter Fiekowsky “Just like all of us know that trees grow on land,” Fiekowsky noted, “in the ocean, which is much larger than the land area on the planet, phytoplankton grow.” When these microscopic plants bloom, they absorb CO2 through photosynthesis. When they die, or are eaten by fish and excreted, that biological material sinks. If it sinks deep enough—over a kilometer down—the carbon essentially leaves the atmospheric cycle, stored in the abyss for thousands of years. This is the “biological pump.”... Continue reading this post for free in the Substack app
© 2026 Project Save the World
|
