How Sperm Whales Offset Their Carbon Footprint

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.

Comments

It's called Iron Seeding, people.

[JoshDM]

There is nothing new about Iron Seeding, except the people who decry it as something that will destroy our oceans and strip it of oxygen.

This is simply Iron Seeding from a biological standpoint.

In fact, Iron Seeding is something we probably should be doing to help sequester carbon.

Recent url of interest here.

Farming

[lewiscr]

These whales aren't reducing their carbon footprint, they're farming. They're fertilizing the fields of phytoplankton, which works it way back up the food chain.