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The answer to the crisis of climate change could be unlocked from the bottom of the ocean, which might seem like the last place on Earth to look when searching for ways to fix the climate issue.
Generating power, manufacturing goods, producing food and deforestation are all major causes of climate change, which are resulting in hotter temperatures, more severe storms and droughts, rising ocean levels, loss of species and more.
Scientists are looking at ways to remove carbon from the sky in an effort to reverse these factors and slow down the rate of climate change.
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Perhaps the least assuming place is where the best chance lies… at the bottom of the ocean floor.
Basalt rock deposits on the seafloor are able to trap carbon dioxide, which is why researchers are hoping to construct floating rigs.
Usually, these types of offshore rigs are built to extract oil but instead, they will be injecting carbon into the ocean floor.
The plan is for the stations to suck carbon dioxide from the sky and pump it into the seabed in a project called Solid Carbon.
Scientists hope that the gas will become rock at the bottom of the sea. Basalt rock is highly reactive and is full of metals that grab carbon dioxide and chemically combine with it to form minerals.
The excess carbon in the atmosphere is causing temperatures to rise so if this plan works, it could mean that the climate won’t be changing at such an alarming rate.
However, it’s not yet certain whether this project will actually work as planned and first, the scientists need $60 million to get it off the ground.
A similar project on a smaller scale - CarbFix in Iceland - is already running successfully so there is hope that this could be a realistic solution to our climate problems.
A prototype for Solid Carbon would send out a ship with pre-captured carbon dioxide and inject it into a drilled hole in the ocean floor.
Then, scientists would monitor it and check to see if any of the gas leaks out.
If it works, it could be an exciting glimpse of the future but the biggest roadblock standing in their way is funds.
Still, it’s worth it according to Martin Scherwath, who is a geophysicist working on the project and a staff scientist at Ocean Networks Canada.
Speaking to Business Insider, he said: “I mean, climate change is so expensive. The way to think about it might be similar to sewage treatment in cities, like it has to be done.”
