What is Marine Permaculture?

With kelp’s help, marine ‘permaculture’ (farming in a sustainable and self-sufficient way) has the potential to turn not only the ocean round but the whole planet – because once we grow it at scale, kelp gives with one hand (food, feed, fuel, fertiliser and more) and takes with the other (carbon, out of the atmosphere and upper ocean, storing it safely in the middle and deep ocean for hundreds to thousands of years).

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 is habitat, food and sequesters gigatons of Co2.  

---

SOLUTION: ​

 Seaweed is more efficient at absorbing CO2 than the amazon rainforest! 

IF you look at the chart below, you can see (on the far left) what percentage of the different ecosystems on Earths surface area. If you look at the middle chart, you will see that algal beds (seaweed) are MORE productive than the tropical rain forest at absorbing Co2. (Plus, they don't burn) So  seaweed doesn't take up much room, but absorbs significantly more CO2 than any other ecosystem. 

Kelp forests are one of Earth’s most vibrant biomes and dynamic carbon sinks, drawing down more CO2 from the atmosphere by area than land-based rainforests do. They comprise a major tool in the fight against ocean acidification, climate change and biomass loss and hold the potential to help reverse global warming. In addition, kelp forests are the habitat and foundation of the food chain for countless of the fish and crustaceans many of us consume.

This lead us to our first approach: upwelling water

Architecture courtesy of AtMocean

 Warming ocean temperatures are presently undermining natural overturning circulation of nutrient-rich cold waters, which is causing kelp forests to be wiped out around the world. The Climate Foundation is working to restore this overturning circulation through wave- and solar-powered deep water pumps that sustain conditions conducive to forest growth. This technology is already being deployed in the Philippines, thereby restoring productivity to seaweed farms.


​

---

Floating, open-ocean kelp ecosystems placed in the oceanic deserts around the world could sequester atmospheric carbon and attract and grow fish, filtering out their waste and recycling nutrients. The kelp could be harvested to be used as biofuel, fertilizer, livestock feed, superfood and countless biomass applications and high-value extract. After high-value extraction at sea in the harvester bio-refinery, the kelp could be sunk to deep anoxic environments, locking 90% of the sequestered carbon away for millennia.

---

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 space on land for all those other uses.  ​​

 What we are now working with what we call Deep Cycling- which is lowering the seaweed at night, and raising it during the day. This also results in the seaweed getting access to cool, nutrient rich water allowing the seaweed to flourish. 

By testing multiple approaches, we can find the pros and cons of each, leading us to the best solutions for our planet. To learn more, please sign up below for our newsletter. To do something to help the planet, please sign up to volunteer. To help us help the planet, please donate. 

The Adventure Begins

We then moved on to our next approach: lowering seaweed

To edit, simply click directly on the text and add your own words to tell the world.