Alexis Rockman Painter & Natural HistorianThe future isn't always what it used to be and Mankind and Mother Earth are developing a unique relationship. Alexis Rockman observer of Nature and Natural Histories speaks about our once and future pasts.Alexis on Artnet
Manifest Destiny at the Brooklyn Museum

Sometimes the process from a simple idea to an applied technology seems to move faster than we think. Just having posted an article about the prototype project CO2-Sink in Germany (storing CO2 underground), the Canadians are taking action in that matter. Not for the first time and with a slight difference to the German project.
The plan is to build a pipeline in Alberta transporting carbon dioxide emissions released through the production of oil sand to old oil fields, where it is injected underground. Storing CO2 in those fields is a technology which has been known about and applied for quite some time. There are several companies in Canada and the States using this technology. The problem is that only certain fields can be used for storage and that the process costs are enormous.

Finding new ways of applying CO2 not only to those fields but also to different layers of underground (e.g. layers of saline aquifer as it is done in Germany) would give us more alternatives and literally more ground to cover.
Nonetheless, the major pipeline project in Canada is good.
First, because it is the only incentive for oil sand producers to capture carbon dioxide formerly being released into the atmosphere. And second, with its estimated costs of 1.5 billion Canadian Dollar it shows that governments are now willing to spend some money in order to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.Read article Alberta eyes carbon dioxide pipeline for oil sands (globeandmail.com)

It’s the day in a couple’s life where dreams are supposed to come true. For some, this means to add a little more colour to a traditional white wedding. They want to go green – of course only in an environmental sense.

The newly launched online magazine Portovert helps to make such dreams come true. This first and only magazine for eco-savvy brides and grooms lists resources for accessories and fashion, receptions and ceremonies as well as for the perfect ecological sound honeymoon location.
But that’s not all: together with Native Energy, Portovert created a so called wedding carbon calculator that shows exactly the emissions produced by your guests travel, lodging, venue power etc.. Ìn order to make a wedding carbon neutral you can pay off your emission debts by supporting a new clean energy project in exchange.

That way you can even include your guests in your green wedding project.
Some ideas:
What about paying for your guests` emissions instead of giving them little wedding give-aways at the end of the party? Or, even better, encourage your guests to invest in your future children’s future by paying off their own carbon impact, making a step forward to preserving this world in its whole beauty.
If this is not an appropriate wedding gift to the newly weds, than what is?Fotos: Website

Ever had this disturbing “this is just so easy, why did no one ever have this idea before” feeling? Ok, it’s like that emotion when you first grasp in kindergarten how basic maths works: 1+1 = 2. Things become clear and easy, you wonder why you just didn’t see it before. Same thing in the case of the following solution to global climate change:

The Problem of CO2 emissions released into the atmosphere causing global climate change in combination with the ongoing dependency on fossil fuels (causing these emissions) can be solved by storing produced CO2 underground!

It might sound like a save-the-world-project for dummies, but far from it!
Actually, the CO2 SINK project developed by the GeoScienceCenter (GeoForschungsZentrum) in Potsdam and supported by the EU commission as well as the German government could be a real chance. It starts with the premise that CO2 capture and geological storage is the only way that has the potential to achieve substantial CO2 reductions at acceptable cost levels over the next few decades. The storage technique of injecting CO2 into a saline aquifer is tested just west of Berlin. It is the first onshore demonstration worldwide.

"The fact that CO2 occurs naturally in the earth and has been stored over geological time scales improves the credibility of deep underground storage. Underground injection of CO2 into oil fields has already been used for decades by industry to enhance recovery. The main priority for CO2 storage is to establish its acceptability as safe and reliable in the long-term."

Fact is also that CO2 storage can’t be a solution by itself. We still have to invest into renewable energies. But as long as we are still – and be it only slightly - dependent on fossil fuels, CO2 storage could work!
Foto: Website

You can remove your carbon emission easily! Carbon Planet aims to reduce Climate Change by empowering individuals and businesses to erase their CO2 footprint by purchasing carbon credits. www.carbonplanet.com/The idea behind the concept is: Whatever greenhouse gases you blow in the atmosphere, you buy the trees that remove this amount again. Carbon credits certify the removal of carbon dioxide from the air. Each carbon credit is associated with the removal of a single tonne of carbon dioxide from the Earth's atmosphere. Purchasing carbon credits shall jelp lowering the impacts of climate change.To me it is not clear if this is just a way of calming a polluter's conscience or really a way to take actively responsibility for what one is doing to nature in your every day life. Like very often, I suppose, it depends on your personal attitude and your engagement.
Fotos: Website

Its often been said that the Amazon is the biggest carbon sink on the planet.
That is only partially true. You can say the Amazon is the biggest carbon sink on the land with 150+ tonnes of biomass per hectare by many estimates. The biggest carbon sink on the planet is however the Ocean. That umpteen billion tonnes of water that is in constant, not yet completely understood motion around the planet is of course an extension of the atmosphere we breathe. It is responsible for sequestering the majority of the CO2 on the planet and it is the prime mover of earth's carbon cycle and weather.Buoy number 51208 is about as far from anywhere as you can get. It is way out in the tropical Pacific near the international dateline, the closest land is Kirimati (pronounced Christmas) Atoll.

Christmas Island 162°W 5°NThis is close to the place where the long waves that birth El Nino begin. El Nino is a circulation phenomenon whose mechanics were only deciphered in the past decade and a half after an investigation that began almost with the invention of the transoceanic telegraphs. Out here in the balmy tropical pacific where the water temperature hovers around 80°F (26°C) year round is where one finds in abundance one of the smallest organisms on the planet, Prochlorococcus Marinus, the smallest known photosynthetic marine cyanobacteria with a diameter between .5 & .7 micrometers. The unicellular prochlorococcus constitutes as much as 40-50% of the photosynthetic biomass in the oceans. Thanks to Chorophyll B as its primary pigmentation it can absorb the blue light that is not filtered out by passing though seawater upto 200 meters below the oceans surface giving it the ability to live pretty far down.These bacteria were only discovered in 1988 and later described in detail only in 1992 and are the dominant organism in terms of numbers in the mid latitudes (between 40°N & 40°S). It contributes 30-80% of the total photosynthesis in the ocean and thus plays one of the most significant roles in the global carbon cycle and the Earth's climate of any organism on the planet. Its also been around for a very long time. Billions of tonnes of prochlorococcus is out there absorbing CO2 and sunlight and we just found out about it a decade and a half back. It makes one wonder what else is out there we haven't noticed and haven't begun to understand. Is it hubris to presume that we live in the Anthropocene Epoch or is there more going on in the atmosphere and beneath the waves than we can yet fathom?

Anthropocene Epoch...Some scientists have actuallly advocated the seeding of the tropical oceans with iron to encourage the rapid growth of Prochlorococcus, potentially allowing the the huge band of ocean between 40° N & 40° S to absorb considerably more carbon dioxide. A crash program to remediate the 'CO2 Problem' may very well find itself on the agenda sometime in the future as politicians search for desperate measures to remedy a situation spiraling rapidly out of control. But from my point of view there is a whole lot of ocean out there and I think mankind is better off starting to undo some of the things done over the past 150 years since the industrial revolution than starting to meddle with an organism that exists on a planetary scale. In the meantime Buoy 51028 still bobs around in the Pacific, occasionally passed by a lonely sailing yacht or two. But not so alone because its monitored by surfers all over California because they know the really big waves start somewhere out here.

SNN

Quite literally, we are between the devil and the deep blue sea. The pictures and news in the media are unambiguous: our natural world is heading into a disaster. The threat of global warming is omnipresent – and mankind, all of us, is found guilty of contributing. Of course, some of us living in the Western world could care less. The results of our actions do not visibly show themselves on our doorsteps (not yet at least) but frequently in less developed countries causing natural and human catastrophes.

Yet even if you do care about your global neighbours and you ackknowledge your responsibilty you will still find yourself between two fronts: the demands of the natural world and the global economy. To illustrate this point: in order to be succesful in most jobs you must be present where things happen. Schedules nowadays are tight, today New York, tomorrow London, two days in Rome. This type of travel is impossible without airplanes – a synonym for greenhouse gas production. The solution can not simply be not to fly, but to build a bridge (over the gap) between the necessary and the possible. The non-profit-organization atmosfair www.atmosfair.de fills this gap. The principle is easy: the passenger voluntarily pays for the greenhouse gases released by the air-travel. An emission calculator then calculates the amount of money the passenger needs to pay. For example, a return trip from London to Los Angeles produces 6080 kg Co2 Emissions.

The greenhouse gas revenue, in this case, of 122 Euro goes toward projects in developing countries with which atmosfair has contracts to reduce emissions. The simple result: a reduction in greenhouse gases by the equivalent to the amount created by the flight – right on-site where the damage first occurs.Under the patronage of Prof. Dr. Klaus Töpfer, former Executive-Director of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), the organization guarantees that at least 80 percent of the money goes directly toward the projects (20 percent are administrativ and marketing expenses). All projects are subject to the “Clean Development Mechanism” (CDM) agreed on at the international climate conference in Kyoto. Thereby, the monitoring of the reduction of emissions is through independent organizations accredited by the United Nations.

Klaus Töpfer, former Executive-Director of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP)
In order to avoid misuse of the received credits for emissions savings the papers are officially registered - and in a last step stored at the German Federal Environment Agency. Thus making them a permanent asset in the game of climate change.Of course, the service which atmosfair offers is just a drop in the bucket of environmental stewardship. Certainly not meant to buy good consciences. But it offers an alternative when air travel is unavoidable, and raises awareness according to the organization’s motto:“The environmental damage caused by the flight cannot be undone – just as a dental filling cannot restore a tooth. However, analog to dental issues, it is advisable to attempt in fixing the problem, than rest on the illfounded believe that by ignoring the problem it will miraculously solve itself.”That is the right attitude and exactly the kind of creative solution the world needs for the problems we are facing – in other words: a possibility to flee the devil and not drawn in the deep blue sea.More information on how atmosfair works, how you can pay and other questions visit:
www.atmosfair.de