© Shutterstock

The battle against climate change -

Over the past few years, there has been a growing interest in the ability of plants and animals to assist in the fight against climate change.

© Shutterstock

Natural remedies -

A favorite tactic when it comes to reducing CO2 emissions is to plant forests, and researchers are even exploring the benefits of restoring whale populations.

© Shutterstock

Seaweed as an option -

One naturally occurring species that has until now gone relatively unexplored is seaweed. Enter Pia Winberg, a marine ecologist at the University of Wollongong.

© Shutterstock

Pia Winberg -

According to Winberg, the fast growth rate of seaweed and its ability to absorb vast amounts of CO2 means that it can be instrumental in battling climate change.

© Shutterstock

Added benefits -

She also believes that seaweed can help to deacidify oceans and revolutionize farming, both in the oceans and on land.

© Shutterstock

Commercial seaweed farm -

A great believer in the potential of seaweed, in 2013 Winberg decided to open Australia’s first land-based, commercial seaweed farm.

© Shutterstock

Commercial seaweed farm -

The farm is situated in New South Wales and currently it produces seaweed extracts for use in commodities that include food, cosmetics, and pharmaceuticals.

© Shutterstock

Packaging alternative -

According to Winberg, if farmed on a greater scale, seaweed could even replace plastic as the main material for packaging and common animal feeds such as corn.

© Shutterstock

Australia vs. Asia -

Currently, Australia is still far behind Asia when it comes to the cultivation of algae. Japanese commercial algae farming took off as early as the 1950s.

© Shutterstock

Seaweed farming in Asia -

Nowadays seaweed farming is a multi-billion dollar industry in Asia, and China is responsible for more than half of the annual harvest.

© Shutterstock

Win-win -

There is a growing interest in the cultivation of seaweed in Australia and elsewhere around the world because it is both sustainable and commercially viable.

© Shutterstock

How it works -

Seaweed is able to combat climate change in the same way as land-based plants: when it photosynthesizes, it absorbs CO2 and grows biomass.

© Shutterstock

Talking numbers -

Currently, it is estimated that algae plants sequester around 200 million tonnes of CO2 every year. That’s the equivalent of the annual emissions of New York State!

© Shutterstock

Added benefit -

Seaweed plants also have the advantage over land plants in that when they die, they sink and take their trapped CO2 with them to the ocean floor.

© Shutterstock

Under threat -

Unfortunately, the reserves of seaweed themselves are threatened by climate change. The absorption of CO2 by the oceans increases their acidity, which damages seaweed ecosystems.

© Shutterstock

Tasmania -

Over the past 80 years, 95% of Tasmania’s kelp seaweed forests have perished at the hands of rising ocean temperatures and increased acidity.

© Shutterstock

How seaweed can help -

And yet according to one 2018 study at the University of California, Irvine, seaweed can itself help to lower the acid level in its immediate environment.

© Shutterstock

How seaweed can help -

According to Winberg, "If you have more seaweeds taking up more carbon dioxide than what is produced, you actually offset acidification and return [the ecosystem] to the state life can persist in.”

© Shutterstock

Impact on shellfish -

By removing acid from the oceans, seaweed can also help shellfish such as oysters and mussels, whose shells become brittle in acidic waters, to grow.

© Shutterstock

Untapped potential -

According to Halley Froehlich, who is a marine scientist at the University of California, Santa Barbara, there is globally a huge untapped potential for seaweed cultivation.

© Shutterstock

Untapped potential -

Froehlich is the lead author on a study that concluded there is 48 million sq km (18.5 million sq miles) of ocean where seaweed could be grown.

© Shutterstock

California -

The same study concluded that seaweed farming in 3.8% of the federal waters off the coast of California could offset all CO2 emission of the state’s farming industry.

© Shutterstock

Other uses -

Winberg also believes that seaweed has potential as a sustainable food source. To quote her, "We're sitting on undiscovered, renewable, sustainable resources.”

© Shutterstock

Sustainable food source -

The marine ecologist turned farmer has stated that one hectare of a seaweed farm has the potential to produce more protein than a hectare of cattle farm.

© Shutterstock

Sustainable food source -

Indeed, the World Bank estimates that if seaweed production increases by 14% every year until 2050, it could increase global food supplies by 10%.

© Shutterstock

Change to cattle farming -

According to research conducted at the University of California, Davis, seaweed may even be able to make cattle farming itself more sustainable.

© Shutterstock

Change to cattle farming -

The research shows that feeding seaweed to cows significantly reduces the amount of methane, a destructive greenhouse gas, they produce.

© Shutterstock

Change to cattle farming -

And apparently it doesn’t take much: just one or two ounces of seaweed can reduce methane output by 80% or even more.

© Shutterstock

Caveat -

Researchers are now looking at whether the meat and milk from cows that have consumed seaweed is safe for human consumption.

© Shutterstock

Going forward -

In many countries around the world, seaweed cultivation is just taking off. But if the material really is as wonderful as it seems, we may well be seeing a lot more of the stuff.

Sources: (BBC)

See also: How whales help to combat climate change

© Shutterstock