Although much of the world realises that there is a climate emergency developing, most of us show no real urgency because the cause of the global warming, CO2, is not generally detected in a quantitative way by our 5 main senses, of which visual is the most important. Climate change deniers play upon the fact that we have to take scientists by their word to convey the numerical concentration of the gas we can’t see!
We have reached the point at which we can’t solve this in time by just reducing our fossil fuel usage, we need to actually get carbon out of the atmosphere now (carbon sequestration) and hold it in stable solid form so that it does not go back into the air again.
There is an equation to determine this and it is the equation of Mass x Time x Surface Area if we are to do it by the proven free natural means of photosynthesis of plant matter, namely cellulose, the most common molecule on the land surface of the Earth.
We are fast approaching the point at which we would need ALL of the Earth’s available land surface area to be green plant covered to do it!
Duckweed is our last hope because we don’t have enough time to plant the trees and sea grass and mangroves, that we will need to do in the long term. Only duckweed can do it and safely, because of its unique growing requirements.
Duckweed grows on the surface of fresh yet dirty water. It cannot grow on running water nor on sea water.
Duckweed has 48 main varieties and scientists are already developing others by genetics.
The smallest varieties are likely to be the best at sequestration because they require shallowest depth of water and when taken out of water at harvesting, dry in air before they have chance to rot down as grass does.
The Duckweed must be able to be dried and crushed into solid blocks or other shapes for solid storage before decomposition sets in.
Duckweed on average reproduces itself every 48 hours, although scientists have reportedly grown some that can do it in 21 hours using LED lighting at non-daylight times.
Given the space to do so 1 tonne of Duckweed after 70 days becomes just over 32 billion tonnes of Duckweed. It has the potential to do this carbon sequestration act quickly. We currently put over 36 billion tonnes of carbon into the atmosphere each year now, most of it due to our fossil fuel usage.
We have to reduce our fossil fuel dependence as we start to grow and store the Duckweed. By the combination of these two we still have hope to survive before the feedback systems kick in and there is no escape. These feedback loops are the Climate Event Horizon. (In astrophysics an Event horizon is the point at which you approach a Black Hole there is no escape from its gravitational pull).
Duckweed can provide mass and time requirements. What makes it special, however, is the fact that as human beings we can create as many extra Earth’s surfaces for the Duckweed that we need. No other plant can do this safely. Duckweed can’t invade other habitats it doesn’t like, so sea and rivers are safe. We will control it in human made growing environments where we also harvest it and process it into the forms we decide on for storage.
One of the best ways to do this is to make human constructed peat bogs out of it in disused quarries across the world.
If we used all the agricultural land that we currently farm in the world we would sequester about 8 billion tonnes of carbon. We need over 4 times that, at present fossil fuel burning rates. We need to bring fossil fuel usage down as we ramp up Duckweed cultivation and storage. Duckweed grown in human made buildings containing many layers of the plant will leave most agricultural land still available for food production.
We only have a limited number of quarries to fill, so we need to ensure that we get the CO2 down towards the accepted and calculated optimal level of 350 ppm of CO2 in the atmosphere. We are currently at 421 ppm.
The great beauty about this solution of building worldwide Duckweed propagation barns, warehouses and towers, is that Duckweed has so many other uses after the CO2 level is reduced to its optimum level.
On farms, run off water can be captured in run off trenches and fed to the Duckweed.
This will mean that farms will not pollute local rivers and streams with high levels of fertiliser and animal waste. Dried Duckweed can then be used to return useful chemicals to the fields where the crops continue to be traditionally grown for food production.
Some varieties of Duckweed can be eaten by humans and an even greater number of varieties can be eaten by farmed animals.
Duckweed can easily be turned into biofuel as well. They have already developed one variety in the United States of America that has three times more oils in its structure than other varieties and produces a higher yield of energy fuel as a result. This and the consumed Duckweed are part of the carbon cycle and do not sequester the carbon, so they are uses purely for use after we have got the CO2 atmospheric level down to where there are no climate disturbance symptoms appearing.
This means that after sequestration requirements are completed, the Duckweed producing buildings will still have a useful productive future. Duckweed propagation is a win : win : win : win situation and given our current Climate Emergency, we can’t afford to miss the boat and fail to start it as soon as practically and developmentally possible.
The fact that we can ALL learn about this solution together on a WORLD DAY – ‘Protect our planet 24/7’ – we all know about in advance, because the date is in its instructive title, means that by sheer will of the majority of humanity we can force our leaders to act in time, to save us from the impending Climate Event Horizon Catastrophe and take the action to build the vertically farmed Duckweed buildings. We all experienced the world acting together to prepare for the Covid-19 vaccine to be distributed worldwide and we will need the same sort of urgency to construct the Duckweed propagation buildings that will save us in time from the Climate Crisis. A three-point plan of Education of humanity, Unification of humanity and Action by humanity, where Duckweed plays a pivotable role in reducing CO2 levels in our atmosphere.
