CLIMATE SOLUTIONS
PROBLEM:
Due to too much CO2 in the atmosphere, the Earth is warming up. Because most of the planet is covered by water, the oceans have absorbed 93% of the heat from global warming. The increasingly warm ocean water is bleaching coral reefs, and killing seaweed. This is a problem as coral reefs are the nursery for the ocean, and seaweed creates over half of our oxygen, provides habitat, food and sequesters gigatons of Co2.
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SOLUTION:
Seaweed is more efficient at absorbing CO2 than the Amazon rainforest! Kelp forests can fix 3000 tonnes of carbon per square KM - that’s more than any tropical rainforest.
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Seaweed absorbs significantly more CO2 than any other ecosystem. |
IIn the chart above, you can see (on the far left) what percentage of the different ecosystems occupy on Earth's surface area.
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The middle chart shows that algal beds (seaweed) are MORE productive than the tropical rain forest at absorbing Co2. (Plus, they don't burn)
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So seaweeds comprise a major tool in the fight against ocean acidification, climate change, biomass loss and hold the potential to help reverse global warming.
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MARINE PERMACULTURE AS A SOLUTION
OUR MISSION
From shutdown to Drawdown.
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By taking Marine Permaculture offshore and establishing large-scale open-ocean cultivation of seaweed forests, we can restore life to ocean regions shut down by global warming and draw down significant amounts of carbon at the same time.
Scaling the cultivation of kelp can help: 
Offshore: Regenerate our ocean ecosystems and restore marine life, from tiny forage fish to apex predators
Draw down carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and sink it safely deep down in the ocean for centuries. We don't sink seaweed, we let nature take its course and measure the seaweed that falls off of the arrays naturally.
Offshore: Regenerate our ocean ecosystems and restore marine life, from tiny forage fish to apex predators
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The Technology
Improving livelihoods
and the seaweed industry
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In the past, seaweed has been cultivated at a small a scale, too close to the shore, by too few countries. We’re developing the technology that will support the seaweed industry of the future.
Marine Permaculture can produce kelp on a huge scale, far out to sea, well out of the way of shipping and el niños, and where it has plenty of space and sunlight to grow, sustainably and naturally, all year round. So how does it work? |
photo from 2040. ©GoodThing Productions/Regen Pictures
Our First Approach:
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1. Restoring overturning circulation through wave- and solar-powered deep water pumps created conditions conducive to forest growth.
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Architecture courtesy of AtMocean
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2. For our second approach, we tried upwelling. You can learn all about it in this video.
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OUR THIRD APPROACH: DEEP CYCLING
What we are now working on is what we call "Deep Cycling" , which is the lowering of seaweed during the night, and raising it during the day. This method has the advantage of guaranteeing that all of the seaweed is exposed to cool nutrient rich water, which is becoming increasingly important as the oceans continue to heat up, the stratification of the ocean becomes more extreme, and the kelp forests continue to die.
The large-scale regeneration and open-ocean cultivation of kelp forests will provide food, fuel and fertilizer for the 9 billion humans that are likely to inhabit the planet by 2040, while drawing down carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and leaving the much needed space on land for what agriculture is able to grow.
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The Community:
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"Macroalgae has the potential to transform the plight of our oceans, helping regenerate life in a sustainable way. We can develop carbon handprints to undo our carbon footprints."
Dr Brian von Herzen
Founder of The Climate Foundation
INVEST IN MARINE PERMACULTURE
This is the dawn of the seaweed revolution
If you’re thinking of somewhere to invest your ecosystem dollars, kelp forests are the most productive ecosystems on the planet. A 1km-size MP Array, at a cost of less than $1M, will achieve commercial payback within 2-4 years. We’re able to offer a franchise model for Marine Permaculture to transform the economies of ocean states the world over. And if a single island can manage 100 MP Arrays, this can in effect turn small island states into big ocean states. We need investors to invest in Marine Permaculture technology, and put in the private equity and lending to enable small countries around the world to help sustain their populations with Marine Permaculture.
graphic by Jonny Africa
Do you have technical questions? We've answered a lot of them here:
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