• Wanderer
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    5
    ·
    6 months ago

    I sometimes wonder if we should improve the world. Not just damage limitation but actually increasing biodiversity.

    Irrigate marginal lands for forests. Or building huge offshore underwater platforms where coral can grow. Either in-between island chains, near them or just out in the ocean.

    There was some work done on Iron fertilization in the ocean that seemed interesting.

    • Death_Equity@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      6 months ago

      Hubris. We have meddled with ecosystems with the intention of improvement for decades and have consistently made things worse.

      We can’t improve the planet, we can only undo the harm we have done and let nature do what it has done long before humans.

      Marginal lands that haven’t had their natural irrigation altered through human activity being made into forests through irrigation only destroys the ecology of marginal lands and has effects on surrounding areas. Even if humans altered the natural irrigation, restoring the natural irrigation just destroys the ecology that developed there and there are the problems that were solved with the irrigation alteration becoming problems again. We don’t need more forests, we need less land development and pollution.

      Building platforms for coral to grow not only pushes the coral reef biome into deeper waters, which disrupts the ecology of those deeper waters and pulls reef fauna away from natural reefs, harming them. Then there is the whole reason why the natural reefs are dying; ocean acidification and higher temperatures. So temps and acidity have to be fixed or the coral dies anyways no matter where you put them and at that point the efforts should be on repopulating the reefs instead of screwing up two biomes.

      Iron fertilization of plankton to induce blooms? Why in Gaia’s name would you think that is a sound idea? We are habitually as stupid as we are smart and think we can just keep screwing with shit and make things better.

      Just release the grey goo.