December 6, 2024 — A small team of environmental and ocean scientists in Australia, known as Whale X, may have discovered a way to remove carbon from the atmosphere efficiently, Hakai Magazine reported. The key to their solution is replicating whale poo.
Whale feces are high in essential nutrients that support the growth of phytoplanktons — a microscopic marine algae that feeds the rest of the ocean food chain.
Phytoplanktons also efficiently capture carbon dioxide, as land plants do, clearing the atmosphere of planet-warming gases. Per Hakai, phytoplanktons absorb “roughly 22 megatonnes (22,000,000 tons) of carbon dioxide (CO2) each year — the amount emitted by about 4.8 million vehicles.”
To put this all into perspective, the most efficient carbon-absorbing tree species — the oak tree — captures only 12 tons of carbon dioxide annually, according to the United States National Marine Fisheries Service.