Dumping Crops at Sea—Good Idea? Bad Idea?

I say…BAD IDEA!

Stuart Strand of the University of Washington and co-author Gregory Benford of the University of California, Irvine say they have a simple way of appropriating carbon.

“Sucked from the atmosphere through photosynthesis and sequestered in leftover husks and stalks are 150 million tons of carbon. Scientists now claim that all we need to do is toss them to the bottom of the sea, and a huge quantity of greenhouse gases be banished at a stroke.”

To begin with, harvesting and transporting this waste to the middle of the Gulf of Mexico, where they propose dumping it, could become much more costly than the $340 a ton that they propose it would cost…especially if fuel cost soar to prices we saw early this year, and there is no reason to believe that they won’t if not higher. Also, wouldn’t it be a better idea to develop a more efficient way of turning this waste under to rebuild the soil where the crops grow and then planting a cover crop?

(Soapbox)

I believe that leaving any farm land lay fallow at any time is a sin with so many hungry people in the world. If we could remove politics and greed from the task of feeding people it could easily be done…think about it, our government pays farmers not to grow crops…what a waste!

(End of Soapbox)

Next, they have no idea what the long term effects would be on the Gulfs ecosystem. I really can’t imagine that could be anything but detrimental to the Gulfs health. I mean, don’t we already dump too much crap into our oceans and seas on this planet? Haven’t we already done too much damage to our waters? Shouldn’t we be looking for ways to restore our waters of the world which provides food and livelihood for a great number of the world’s population?

At the end of the article on Discovery News, And John Harte of the University of California, Berkeley questions the wisdom of this idea and says, “The real message of this paper is that to solve the problem of global warming, we need to keep thinking of new things,”

I agree with Mr. Harte in that we need to solve the problem of global warming, and continue seeking new ideas but I really don’t think that Stuart Strand and Gregory Benford have done anything here but waste time and resources.

Read the article “Dumping Crops at Sea Proposed as Way to Bury Carbon” by Michael Reilly, Discovery News…here.

http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2009/01/30/carbon-sequestration.html

Evening on Icy Creek

Evening on an icy creek in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia…

Copyright © 2009 D L Ennis, All rights reserved.

NOTE: Permission for the use of my images is granted for personal websites and blogs (THAT MEANS NO ADS AND NO SELLING OF ANY KIND) but is to include a link back to this site and proper credit given to me, D L Ennis. Link to be used…(Visual Thoughts http://dlennis.wordpress.com/)

NOTE: Commercial use, and the creation of prints, must be purchased! For more information you can contact me here.

Abstract in Ice

The bare bones of some kind of weed incased in ice…Best viewed large.

I’m not a big fan of photography contest, in fact it’s been nearly fifteen years since I entered one, but a friend mentioned one recently and I told my wife about it and she talked me into entering…I received an email of congratulations last evening…this is the first paragraph and the link to the pic to receive this honor.

Hello DL,

Congratulations! Your submission The Morning After has been accepted for exhibition in the 6th Annual Appalachian Mountain Photography Competitions Blue Ridge Parkway Vistas category. Selected in the preliminary round of judging from more than 920 submissions, your work will hang in exhibition in the Mezzanine Gallery of the Turchin Center for the Visual Arts on the campus of Appalachian State University, March 6 through June 6 2009. http://farm1.static.flickr.com/162/382783236_0eec3aa2be_b.jpg

Copyright © 2009 D L Ennis, All rights reserved.

NOTE: Permission for the use of my images is granted for personal websites and blogs (THAT MEANS NO ADS AND NO SELLING OF ANY KIND) but is to include a link back to this site and proper credit given to me, D L Ennis. Link to be used…(Visual Thoughts http://dlennis.wordpress.com/)

NOTE: Commercial use, and the creation of prints, must be purchased! For more information you can contact me here.

Icy Grass

After the recent ice storm…

Copyright © 2009 D L Ennis, All rights reserved.

NOTE: Permission for the use of my images is granted for personal websites and blogs (THAT MEANS NO ADS AND NO SELLING OF ANY KIND) but is to include a link back to this site and proper credit given to me, D L Ennis. Link to be used…(Visual Thoughts http://dlennis.wordpress.com/)

NOTE: Commercial use, and the creation of prints, must be purchased! For more information you can contact me here.

Icy Pine Walls

Ice laden white pines line this country road in Amherst County, Virginia…

Copyright © 2009 D L Ennis, All rights reserved.

NOTE: Permission for the use of my images is granted for personal websites and blogs (THAT MEANS NO ADS AND NO SELLING OF ANY KIND) but is to include a link back to this site and proper credit given to me, D L Ennis. Link to be used…(Visual Thoughts http://dlennis.wordpress.com/)

NOTE: Commercial use, and the creation of prints, must be purchased! For more information you can contact me here.

Incased in Ice

A branch of a beech tree incased in ice from our recent ice storm…

Copyright © 2009 D L Ennis, All rights reserved.

NOTE: Permission for the use of my images is granted for personal websites and blogs (THAT MEANS NO ADS AND NO SELLING OF ANY KIND) but is to include a link back to this site and proper credit given to me, D L Ennis. Link to be used…(Visual Thoughts http://dlennis.wordpress.com/)

NOTE: Commercial use, and the creation of prints, must be purchased! For more information you can contact me here.

Red-banded Hairstreak on Joe-Pye weed

This little beautiful butterfly is the Red-banded Hairstreak (Calycopis cecrops [Fabricius]) with a wing span of 7/8 – 1 1/4 inches (2.2 – 3.2 cm). This one, feeding on Joe-Pye weed.

An ice storm came through and we lost power for two days…we just got it back on and I am thawing…Hope you are all warm and well!

Copyright © 2009 D L Ennis, All rights reserved.

NOTE: Permission for the use of my images is granted for personal websites and blogs (THAT MEANS NO ADS AND NO SELLING OF ANY KIND) but is to include a link back to this site and proper credit given to me, D L Ennis. Link to be used…(Visual Thoughts http://dlennis.wordpress.com/)

NOTE: Commercial use, and the creation of prints, must be purchased! For more information you can contact me here.

A Mystics Eve

Evening falls on the realm of the mystics and mystery rules the night…

Copyright © 2009 D L Ennis, All rights reserved.

NOTE: Permission for the use of my images is granted for personal websites and blogs (THAT MEANS NO ADS AND NO SELLING OF ANY KIND) but is to include a link back to this site and proper credit given to me, D L Ennis. Link to be used…(Visual Thoughts http://dlennis.wordpress.com/)

NOTE: Commercial use, and the creation of prints, must be purchased! For more information you can contact me here.

The Misty Wood of Fall

A painterly rendition of the misty wood of fall…all of the green in this piece is the kudzu vine consuming the trees and ground…is there any wonder that this vine is known in the southern U.S. as “the vine that ate the south?”

Copyright © 2009 D L Ennis, All rights reserved.

NOTE: Permission for the use of my images is granted for personal websites and blogs (THAT MEANS NO ADS AND NO SELLING OF ANY KIND) but is to include a link back to this site and proper credit given to me, D L Ennis. Link to be used…(Visual Thoughts http://dlennis.wordpress.com/)

NOTE: Commercial use, and the creation of prints, must be purchased! For more information you can contact me here.

Paint Me a Picture of Delicate Beauty

Snow today and snow tomorrow and I needed something to warm my day…hope it helps yours too!

Copyright © 2009 D L Ennis, All rights reserved.

NOTE: Permission for the use of my images is granted for personal websites and blogs (THAT MEANS NO ADS AND NO SELLING OF ANY KIND) but is to include a link back to this site and proper credit given to me, D L Ennis. Link to be used…(Visual Thoughts http://dlennis.wordpress.com/)

NOTE: Commercial use, and the creation of prints, must be purchased! For more information you can contact me here.