KELP PROJECT
A BLUE CARBON SEQUESTRATION MACROALGAE PROJECT
PROJECT
1 THE KELP PROJECT
A BLUE CARBON SEQUESTRATION MACROALGAE PROJECT
For centuries, the world has burned fossil fuels to power our economy. These
fossil fuels have resulted in a significant increase in the release of harmful
greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions into our atmosphere and oceans. Now we must reverse this, and a reduction alone will not suffice to address the
greatest global impacts caused by these GHGs – the most prevalent being
carbon dioxide (CO2). According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), reduction alone will not avoid the 1.50C – 2.0C temperature increase from pre-industrial levels – the temperature increase we are warned
will have the most devastating impact on our environment. We must actively
sequester or capture the carbon from the atmosphere through technological advances that are at the scale of this grave situation.
SOCIOECONOMICALLY, THE WORLD IS POSITIONED TO FACE THIS CHALLENGE AS WE ENTER A NEW AGE OF SUSTAINABLE INVESTING. One of the world’s largest asset
managers, BlackRock, currently managing more than $8.67 trillion in assets, has committed to actively avoid investing in companies with high
sustainability related risk. BlackRock CEO, Larry Fink, asserts that climate risk
is, “compelling investors to reassess core assumptions about modern finance.” Recently Microsoft, amid a flurry of likeminded Fortune 500
companies, publicly announced its goal to erase the company’s total emissions since inception, by 2050, pledging a $1B climate innovation fund to develop the necessary technology.
1.5 - 2.0 C
+
Meanwhile, reporting frameworks like the Sustainability Accounting
Standards Board (SASB), are redefining what is considered material to investors in corporate disclosures. Companies with higher sustainability risk will face increased costs of capital and devaluation. Forward thinking
companies that recognize and take advantage of the opportunities to innovate along sustainability metrics will not only reduce acute and progressive risk, but will ultimately increase revenue.
THE VISION Kelp is key to carbon sequestration. Blue Endeavors (BE) was founded in coastal California, where beautiful, life sustaining, forests of giant kelp (macrocystis pyrifera) still abound, and much of our original work has
developed in these local ocean labs. As the direct result of the BE network of students, schools, researchers, community scientists, and
other non-governmental organizations (NGO(s)) working in our kelp labs, BE has developed a solution to carbon sequestration, a multifaceted approach using kelp.
THE BLUE ENDEAVORS KELP PROJECT IS DESIGNED TO BOTH UTILIZE THE BLUE CARBON SEQUESTRATION OF MACROALGAE TO MEET SUSTAINABILITY GOALS, and
to preserve and reforest kelp beds, an essential ecosystem for biodiversity and ocean health. These projects will further scientific research, policy development, and education. Further, there are key opportunities for healthy sustainable seafood production on farm sites.
A BE student from CA, surveying kelp beds in 2012 around Anacapa Island for a possible camera installation site.
THE SOLUTION
Project Concept Prototype Site, BE & WSP
Blue Endeavors evaluates each potential Ocean Impact Project
Working
Kelp Project as critical and in need of immediate scaling-up. We are
to bring macroalgae into the world of sustainable investing. With
based on a set of specific metrics. This analysis has identified our not alone in this conclusion. Former EPA administrator, William K.
Reilly, while accepting the 2020 Climate Pioneer Award, highlighted
the carbon sequestration benefits of kelp, as one of the, “Interventions
that
promise
game
because that is what we require.”
changing
breakthroughs,
with
our
network
of
partners,
scientists,
and
organizations, BE is developing the methodologies and technology
few exceptions, the current industry around carbon sequestration
is land based and focused on trees. The BE Kelp Project expects to establish
macroalgae
as
alternative in this market.
a
substantially
more
sustainable
THE JOURNEY Although quantitative data may be reported in the short term, the goal of leveraging deep ocean carbon sequestration with macroalgae to limit global temperature increase, is long-term in nature. Blue Endeavors remains partnered in alternative research and development to mitigate kelp deforestation. Since 2012, then alongside Trevor Mendelow’s Teens4Oceans and the National Park Service, where our students first installed webcams in the kelp forests of Anacapa Island, we have been monitoring and collecting research data based out of our ocean kelp labs in California. BE students use live feed camera they install in kelp forests and can manage from cloud based controls. The data combination of a live underwater feed, and a camera controlled from a cloud-based admin tool was the first step for Blue Endeavors in kelp forest research. Over the years Blue Endeavors has trained thousands of students and citizen scientists to participate in kelp forest based underwater data collections for partners including REEF and Reef Check California. In 2012 BE students from CO and CA, used live feed camera they installed in kelp forests of Channel Islands National Park that could be managed from cloud based controls.
According to some of the Reef Check data from 2013, 98 miles of once lush kelp forests along Northern California’s coast have been decimated by an overpopulation of kelp holdfast eating purple sea urchins (strongylocentrotus purpuratus). The urchin’s main predator, the sunflower seastar (pycnopodia helianthoides) experienced a massive die off due to a mysterious
PURPLE SEA URCHINS
strongylocentrotus purpuratus
virus. As these massive predators dissolved and withered away from a “sea star wasting disease,” and the purple urchin population subsequently skyrocketed in 2014. A marine heat wave caused by climate change also contributed to the loss of kelp. Kelp thrives in upwelling zones with cold water and high levels of nutrients that come up from the deep seafloor. Abnormally warm water conditions from 2014 to 2017 interfered with kelp recruitment.
SUNFLOWER SEASTAR
pycnopodia helianthoides
Working with Josh Russo (Watermen’s Alliance), Keith Rootsaert and
Dan
Abbott
(Reef
Check
California),
Blue
Endeavors
ambassador, Genevieve Rohe, began The Urchin Project to bring the Blue Endeavors community to fight to save the kelp beds of Northern California.
The ocean is a mysterious yet beautiful part of our earth filled with a variety of ecosystems including kelp forests. Kelp forests naturally
work to combat climate change through their sequestration of
carbon. I am particularly drawn to the topic of kelp forests because of its ability to sequester carbon theoretically permanently, as I am
passionate about conserving the ocean and Earth as a whole. The Environmental Science class I am taking and my interest in scuba diving have led me to this passion for conservation, especially marine
conservation. I hope one day the ocean could be restored to its former glory before climate change and others will be able to experience the wonders of the ocean without harming the environment.
Parker Mergelkamp, Blue Endeavors Kelp Project Intern Age 17
The young volunteers on Blue Endeavors expeditions embody the ambitions and hopes of the Blue Endeavors big picture mission. More specifically, they represent the front line of the Kelp Project. Their collective voice regarding the pressing need for advanced hardware and solutions is showcased in this testimonial.
JOIN US!
To become part of this exciting and important project, please contact: vince@blue-endeavors.org