Fortune - USA (2020-04)

the agency relent. And only after that did Oxy hand over

a heavily redacted version that it had submitted to CARB.

That version blacked out big chunks of information

the company calls “business confidential.” What wasn’t

redacted boils down to a four-word argument that Zeller,

the Oxy technology executive, had lobbed at me in Hous-

ton. I asked him about the likelihood that man-made CO 2

at Oxy’s Permian fields might escape. Said the engineer:

“It ain’t coming out.”

A

ROADSIDE ENTRANCE to the West

Seminole field is marked by a worn, rusty

sign, pocked with what appear to be bullet

holes. On sections of the field, among the

pump jacks still rocking, chunks of old

machinery lie atop the dry brush. The scene

evokes an oil-patch graveyard.

Whether this acreage should become a

graveyard of a different sort—a resting place

for CO 2 —is, fundamentally, a question about

how humanity will wrestle with the wicked

complexities of global warming. Proceeding

will signal that a technology widely seen as

crucial to addressing climate change may

finally scale. Delay will leave the future of

that technology in the same place where a

lone bird is gliding above West Seminole

on the gray afternoon I glimpse the field.

It’s the place where, every day, more CO 2 is

heading: up in the air.

A PLANET IN CRISIS : CARBON CAPTURE

mans to stop emitting

greenhouse gases.

If we cool the earth

with new technol-

ogy, then companies

and people will fail

to reduce pollution,

they say.

Adding to the back-

lash is the fear that

large-scale interven-

tions can negatively

change the earth’s

natural systems by

altering rainfall and

weather patterns or

causing flooding and

drought. And some

of the possible ef-

fects can’t simply be

turned off.

Here are four other

ideas that research-

ers hope will offset

some of humanity’s

impact on the envi-

ronment.

ALGAE FARMING

Over the past several

years, scientists in

Germany, Canada,

and India have ex-

plored fertilizing the

ocean with iron sul-

fate to stimulate the

growth of algae, the

sea life that absorbs

carbon dioxide and

releases oxygen. In

keep chunks from

breaking off. The sci-

entists, who hail from

Princeton University,

Beijing Normal Uni-

versity, and Finland’s

University of Lapland,

are also considering

building artificial

islands and large

pumping stations that

would channel cold

water under glaciers,

which, on land, slide

on a thin layer of ice,

to slow their move-

ment.

SPRAYING THE

STRATOSPHERE

Scientists are taking

a cue from volcanic

eruptions, which

naturally spray

sulfur dioxide into the

stratosphere and cool

the earth below. Har-

vard University scien-

tists want to spray a

shield of mist made

of calcium carbon-

ate—found in chalk

and seashells—into

the stratosphere and

reflect sunshine back

into space. They plan

to test the theory by

using a balloon sent

into the stratosphere

to release the light-

2012, for example, an

American business-

man dumped iron

sulfate off Canada’s

Pacific coast that cre-

ated an artificial algae

bloom over as much

as 10,000 square

kilometers. But such

efforts are controver-

sial because algae

competes with other

aquatic life and can

reduce fish popula-

tion. Meanwhile, in

February, researchers

at the Massachusetts

Institute of Technol-

ogy published a paper

saying, in fact, that

kick-starting benefi-

cial algae growth on a

global scale is nearly

impossible.

GLACIAL

SANDBOXES

Researchers are con-

sidering the idea of

building massive un-

derwater sand berms

where glaciers meet

the ocean to keep gla-

ciers from disappear-

ing, thereby prevent-

ing sea levels from

rising. The sand would

form walls around the

submerged glacial

ice and, theoretically,

reflecting particles,

and then, if it works,

deploy high-altitude

planes to do the same

thing on a larger scale.

SALTING CLOUDS

In an effort to reduce

the earth’s tempera-

ture, scientists hope

to refashion clouds so

that they’re brighter

and thereby reflect

more sunlight back

into space. Their tool?

Powerful nozzles

affixed to boats

that each can spray

3 trillion particles of

seawater per second

drawn, hundreds of

feet into the air. Com-

puter models from the

University of Wash-

ington team working

on the idea suggest

that spraying just 20%

of the earth’s clouds

could cool the entire

planet by two or three

degrees Celsius. The

technology would

mimic an already-

known phenomenon

in which exhaust from

oceangoing ships cre-

ates streaks in marine

clouds and cools the

earth temperatures

below them.

seem like a far-

fetched solution to

climate change. But

today, they’re one

of many sci-fi ideas

gaining momentum

amid ominous scien-

tific studies showing

rising earth tempera-

tures and increasing

carbon dioxide in the

atmosphere.

These out-there

technologies are part

of a scientific field

called geoengineer-

ing, which is aimed

at manipulating the

environment to offset

climate change’s im-

pact. Unlike, say, solar

or electric vehicles,

whose widespread

adoption would

depend on changing

consumer behavior

and established

industries, geoen-

gineering technolo-

gies attack climate

change directly—and,

theoretically, have an

impact more quickly.

But critics argue

that such technolo-

gies may make it

more difficult to curb

the core problem,

because they remove

SPE any incentive for hu-

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