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</FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" FAMILY="SANSSERIF" SIZE="2"><B>>Russ George & William G. Coleman</B></FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Geneva" FAMILY="SANSSERIF" SIZE="2"><BR>
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</FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" FAMILY="SANSSERIF" SIZE="2"><B>>Ocean Restoration</B></FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Geneva" FAMILY="SANSSERIF" SIZE="2"><BR>
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</FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" FAMILY="SANSSERIF" SIZE="2">> </FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Geneva" FAMILY="SANSSERIF" SIZE="2"><BR>
</FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" FAMILY="SANSSERIF" SIZE="2">>Russ George is CEO and chief scientist of Planktos, an organization ramping<BR>
>up to become a major commercial player in the carbon offset field by developing<BR>
>innovative carbon credit products for deployment and marketing worldwide. <BR>
>Russ has worked in science, especially environmental and energy science, for<BR>
>the past 30 years, specializing in technology transfer of academic discoveries<BR>
>into practical applications.</FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Geneva" FAMILY="SANSSERIF" SIZE="2"><BR>
><BR>
</FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" FAMILY="SANSSERIF" SIZE="2">>Russ has managed projects such as large scale reforestation and land<BR>
>reclamation in the forestry and mining industry, and development of ocean<BR>
>fisheries enhancement and aquaculture. He has worked as a scientist in<BR>
>frontier energy physics and as a visiting scientist in National Laboratories in<BR>
>the United States and Japan. He is often interviewed by the media on the<BR>
>future of energy and environment, and has given invited speeches to such<BR>
>organizations as the US Department of Defense (SecNav), NASA,<BR>
>Department of Energy, Electric Power Research Institute, as well as<BR>
>similar organizations in Japan and Europe.</FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Geneva" FAMILY="SANSSERIF" SIZE="2"><BR>
><BR>
</FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" FAMILY="SANSSERIF" SIZE="2">>Russ is also an award winning producer, writer, and director of films and<BR>
>television especially focusing on environmental topics in both the United<BR>
>States and Canada. He is an avid ocean sailor, explorer, naturalist, and<BR>
>long ago stood night watch for a time at the wheel of the late Rainbow Warrior.</FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Geneva" FAMILY="SANSSERIF" SIZE="2"><BR>
><BR>
</FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" FAMILY="SANSSERIF" SIZE="2">>Russ will give an overview of why ocean restoration is necessary, and how<BR>
>Planktos' launch of significant ocean iron fertilization projects will sequester<BR>
>vast amounts of carbon and help buy us time to make the needed political<BR>
>and policy changes to address global warming.</FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Geneva" FAMILY="SANSSERIF" SIZE="2"><BR>
><BR>
William G. Coleman began the talk by explaining Planktos is a<BR>
Half Moon Bay Company founded by people that have been deeply<BR>
involved with ocean protection work for a long time. The company<BR>
gets its financial reason for being from the Kyoto Protocol, which went<BR>
into effect earlier this year. The greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation<BR>
credits make it economically feasible to make money by pulling CO2<BR>
out of the atmosphere. Then he introduced Russ George, the companies<BR>
CEO and Chief Scientist, who went from there.<BR>
<BR>
Russ began by explaining that one of the consequences of higher CO2<BR>
levels in the atmosphere is a slight change in the pH levels of the oceans,<BR>
meaning they are becoming slightly more acidic. This is a problem for<BR>
phytoplankton, because the chemical mechanisms they use to build<BR>
their shells require a neutral pH environment to work. This effect has<BR>
already cut into the food supply at the base of the ocean food chain<BR>
by enough of a percentage that it could be one of the reasons that<BR>
the big fisheries (along with overfishing) have collapsed. He sees this<BR>
as yet another reason we need to sequester as much of the carbon we<BR>
have put in the atmosphere as possible.<BR>
<BR>
Then Russ explained that the limiting reagent in ocean algae growth<BR>
is iron. He showed us pictures of dust storms that blew dust (3% iron)<BR>
from the Gobi desert to the Pacific and Indian Oceans that were<BR>
followed by large algae blooms. He explained that he was able to<BR>
create the same effect by dropping a very thin solution of finely<BR>
ground hematite (half micron size 70% iron dust particles) in salt<BR>
water off the back end of Neil Young's yacht. He showed us satellite<BR>
pictures of that type of bloom, a small bright blob (about 30 miles<BR>
square) compared to the natural bloom, which was much bigger<BR>
(thousands of miles across) and much more diffuse. Russ explained<BR>
that for every ton of hematite that is carefully spread on the ocean,<BR>
about 300,000 tons of CO2 are pulled out of the atmosphere by algae,<BR>
making this an extremely cost effective way to remediate climate change.<BR>
<BR>
Planktos expects to make money by selling carbon sequestration credits<BR>
to companies that need them to offset their GHG emissions. Such<BR>
credits are already for sale on a number of commodity markets like the<BR>
one in Chicago. The company hopes to accomplish mitigation of global<BR>
warming, normalization of ocean temps., rebalancing of ocean pH,<BR>
revitalization of ocean fertility, and restoration of healthy food<BR>
chains through their work. At the moment they are looking for<BR>
investors and speaking opportunities to spread the word about their<BR>
work.<BR>
<BR>
During Q&A a number of interesting points came up:<BR>
<BR>
The Gulf Stream, the Atlantic current that feeds the upper oceans<BR>
has slowed down 30% indirectly because of global warming. What<BR>
happened was that the warming caused ice melting, which resulted<BR>
in more water at higher latitudes, which reduced the gradient that<BR>
had caused the current to flow.<BR>
<BR>
Aeolian (dust storm) deposition of iron in the Pacific has been on the<BR>
decline because of soil conservation programs in China & Mongolia.<BR>
<BR>
It used to be that the only Countries opposed to Kyoto were USA,<BR>
Monaco, Liechtenstein, and Australia. However, Australia has recently<BR>
changed its mind, so now the only opposition comes from the USA,<BR>
Monaco and Liechtenstein.<BR>
<BR>
Ocean algae long ago evolved to bloom in the presence of higher<BR>
iron levels. It does no harm to the oceans to cause these blooms.<BR>
<BR>
It is only a few days after the ocean is fertilized that the smell of<BR>
fresh mowed grass comes up as an algae bloom develops. A bloom<BR>
can last a few months, but some of the carbon sequestered will<BR>
stay out of the atmosphere for many years.<BR>
<BR>
For more information please visit:<BR>
<BR>
http://www.planktos.com<BR>
<BR>
To request a speaker, please contact bill (at) planktos (dot) com.<BR>
<BR>
</FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Geneva" FAMILY="SANSSERIF" SIZE="2">--<BR>
Tian<BR>
http://tian.greens.org<BR>
Most recent change to my website:<BR>
Added an online version of my new political flier.<BR>
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