is killing millions of fish/sea life worth saving the humans???

Question

I recently heard of a research vessel dumping 20 tons of iron dust into the water near Galapagos Island (ironically the island that darwin went to to study nature). The iron dust will cause phytoplankton to boom on the ocean’s surface, which, in theory, will then suck tons of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere and sink it deep into the ocean. Soon, our oceans will be filled with co2, which will increase the acidicity of the ocean and destroy the beautiful coral reefs and kill thousands of species of wildlife.

Is killing all of those sea cretures worth our lives?? Is it worth it??? After all, WE are the ones that cause all of these problems...

Hey, dont ask me about the co2>acidic thing. I saw it on T.V. T.V never lies...

Oh, and i also heard that the fish could suffocate.. What i really find intresting is that we still dont want to change our ways, but only want to find shortcuts to get around changing.

Answer 1

The phytoplankton are used precisely because they "lock up" the CO2 chemically, keeping it from making the oceans acidic.

They would actually help aquatic life and particularly coral reefs, which are at far greater risk from global warming.

Coral reefs are extraordinarily sensitive to temperature. All around the world coral reefs are "bleaching' turning into lifeless white rock, because of global warming. If the phytoplankton can suck CO2 out from the air, it may very well save them.

Similarly CO2 in the air is making the ocean more acidic right now. The phytoplankton could reduce that, too.

Bottom line. As far as we know, this could be of great benefit to the oceans. Might there be a problem the scientists didn't think of? Maybe, but if global warming continues it is a sure thing that the oceans and the coral reefs will be devastated. It's worth a try, along with other things to reduce global warming.

Greenpyr0 - The way CO2 makes the oceans acidic is that it pulls an oxygen off the water molecule, making carbonate ion CO3(-1) and releasing two hydrogens.

Answer 2

Wow, so arrogent. Do you even realize that the CO2 that sinks to the bottom is used by the Coral Reefs? Do you realize that the boon in phytoplankton will mean more food for animals like whales and fish? Do you know that the CO2 has absolutley NOTHING to do with acidity? And finally, are you saying that you are willing to let humanity die to let a bunch of stupid FISH live? Wow, just wow.

Answer 3

Let us do a little experiment. Take a coke and dump in a tea spoon of salt and what happens . Now ocean water has salt in it so it can not also hold CO2. That is all a lie.

Answer 4

im an environmentalist and i can honestly say it shouldnt. in chemistry we learned ph is merely a way of measuring the amount of hydrgoen ions in a given solution. the higher the amount of hydrogen is the higher the acidity. since CO2 has no hydrogen in it it shouldnt affect the acidity at all

Answer 5

if the sea is dead we are dead therefor NO is the answer