Tell us about your thesis. What is climate restoration.
Well climate restoration is very interesting. It's the it's the goal of restoring the climate that humans have actually survived
long term. And so it's much more radical than the conventional thinking of trying to reduce the damage. It's engineering an
idea of we want to restore what works for human beings. And it turns out that we have the technology and the finance to do it.
We just need to start talking about it because we've been talking about a much worse goal. What's interesting is I've
never heard of this technology that you argue we have right now. Ocean pasture restoration for example synthetic limestone
manufacture seaweed permaculture and methane oxidation. These are the four technologies you say that can help us get us there.
Let's start with ocean pasture restoration. How does it work. Yeah. So the four methods first of all the reason that you
haven't heard about them is that we haven't had a goal of restoring the climate yet. These have all been around for quite
a while. Ocean pasta restoration also called ocean iron fertilization. Is this the same process that nature uses to cook
to cool the planet before ice ages. And so nature removes a trillion tons of CO2 before or eats ice age. There have been 10
in the last million years and we know how to do the same thing. And the idea is we all know that photosynthesis like trees
absorbs CO2. But the trouble with trees of course is that they end up dying after a few decades and that the carbon goes back
into the air. When the trees rot in the ocean when plants grow they sink. And so and then there's no oxygen in the deep ocean.
And so the carp they take the cut the carbon with them as they and of course a lot of the plants are eaten by fish and all the
detritus sinks into the deep ocean. And as I said that's how nature cool the planet for our ice ages. And so the way this
operates it was tested 10 years ago. It was tested also by Mount Pinatubo 30 years ago.
Is this local low. It's localized and it's intermittent. So you do it they do it in eddies which are about 100 miles in diameter
in the ocean. And the eddy contains the iron. The iron is phenomenally small amount. It's like a one hundredth of a
teaspoon per square metre. And within days it turns green from blue. Blue is beautiful but it's not green. Green is great for
the synthesis. And then within another week or so fish start coming in and feeding on there on the the luncheon counter
there. And an off you go that when it was tested they were told that they they've sequestered 100 million tonnes of CO2.
Peter before the break we were going through some of the technologies that you outline in your new book. I want to
continue with that and talk seaweed permaculture and exactly what it is and how it gets carbon out of the ecosystem.
Yeah. Seaweed. Permaculture is a variation on the iron fertilization.
So as I said the important thing in the oceans is when you grow plants when they die they sink what is no oxygen and the oxygen
stays out. And with seaweed permaculture the for the nutrients that are
missing are brought up from the deep ocean and a large pipe solar powered takes very very little energy.
And then the the seaweed grows. Some of the seaweed is used is actually harvested and sold for product some of which sell for a
thousand dollars a tonne. And probably half the seaweed ends up falling deep into the ocean. Some of it cut some of it just
naturally falling. And it's fairly simple. The difficulty is you've got it. They build the structure that this the kelp grows
on and that takes some technology. But just like the the iron fertilization it's a commercial product right. And slow. So it
pays for itself. A Peter you is a commercial product. Let's talk and then there because I'm wondering if this is so effective.
Where's the money in it. And I ask that in the you know the question not in a cynical way but in a way that motivates
companies to do this to make sure that we have a future. Yes it's an interesting challenge because of the we have the four
pathways and they're all self financing and this is the same model that put CO2 into the air. That is we had companies
selling us heating energy which had a byproduct of putting CO2 up with these four products. The the the seaweed the limestone
the ocean fertilization which leads to fish. We get product which has a byproduct of pulling CO2 out. Right now the
challenge is and this is something that we're dealing with right now is we're afraid to list these on them on the open market
because the customers I can say wait a minute my retirement depends on it. And so we want to make sure that people doing
this are primarily interested in restoring the climate for our children and grandchildren only secondarily interested in making
money. Well it almost sounds like you've got to have governments involved who recognize these methods and before it gets too
late. Peter Erik Schatzker thank you so much. Founder and chairman emeritus at Foundation for Climate
Restoration. Check out his book that has got the title of climate restoration in it.