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How Sperm Whales Offset Their Carbon Footprint

Posted by samzenpus on from the all-natural-solution dept.

Boy Wunda writes "Scientists at Flinders University in South Australia found that in an awesome example of design by Mother Nature, Southern Ocean sperm whales offset their carbon footprint by simply defecating – an action that releases tons of iron a year and stimulates the growth of phytoplankton which absorb and trap carbon dioxide. If only we humans could say the same for our poop, which really doesn't do much more than just sit there." I'm going to do my part by buying some iron supplements and a can of chili, and heading off toward the ocean.

6 of 150 comments (clear)

  1. I wonder ... by electricprof · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I wonder how long it will take for someone to suggest dumping raw sewage into the oceans in an effort to reduce our carbon footprint ...

  2. Carbon Footprint? by lobiusmoop · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Anything that doesn't use fossil fuel (directly or indirectly) is already pretty much carbon neutral over its lifespan. .The O2/CO2 levels in the atmosphere have been more or less in balance for millions of years,

    --
    "I bless every day that I continue to live, for every day is pure profit."
    1. Re:Carbon Footprint? by OldOOCoboler · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Lobiusmoop said "directly or indirectly". Cattle in feedlots eat corn grown with fertilizers made from previously sequestered oil. If you use oil or coal that took millions of years to sequester then you're not neutral. Whale's don't add any previously sequestered carbon to the biosphere (unless they drink straight from the BP wellhead).

  3. Carbon Footprint? by lax-goalie · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Sperm whales have a carbon footprint? What? From the Hummers they're driving, or all the coal-burning power plants they've built?

    I know this is Idle on Slashdot, but man, that is the dumbest headline I've seen in a while.

  4. Re:design by Mother Nature by Rato+Ruter · · Score: 3, Insightful

    This sounds almost religiously stupid. I doubt mother nature cares about us or the level of CO2.

    Should we take mother nature at her word and send our untreated sewage into the ocean so we can be like the whales?

    2 minutes

  5. Re: samzenpus: by Matt_R · · Score: 3, Insightful

    What about trains?

    Won't somebody think of the train driver?