Friday, June 16, 2023

Hungry Hungry Cyanobacteria

I keep forgetting to post about this Guardian article: Volcanic microbe eats CO2 'astonishingly quickly,' say scientists

The cyanobacteria were found in a volcanic hot spring, and in addition to consuming the gas, they also sank once they consumed it. Sounds great in this era of carbon dioxide-fueled climate change.

Multiple companies are mentioned in the article as attempting to exploit and commercialize this finding, since carbon-capture is hot right now. 

Returning global climate to stability requires not just stopping carbon extraction and burning, but also some kind of carbon sequestration. Personally, I'm more interested in stopping the extraction and burning first because it seems obvious to me that if there is some kind of carbon sequestration, all of the existing carbon interests will keep extracting and burning, using the potential of sequestration as an excuse to keep going.

Sure, keep pursuing the cyanobacteria, but in the meantime stop pumping oil and electrify everything.


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