WEBVTT - Restoring Our Climate to Secure Our Future

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<v Speaker 1>This is Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Masser and Bloomberg

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<v Speaker 1>Quick Takes Tim Stinovic on Bloomberg Radio. It's all about

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<v Speaker 1>the climate. We're gonna talk about the author of a

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<v Speaker 1>book about climate restoration, a different way of really protecting

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<v Speaker 1>our environment and really making a difference. Yeah, I get

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<v Speaker 1>you know. It's interesting, Carol. We talked about technologies that

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<v Speaker 1>can actually help us avoid a catastrophe when it comes

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<v Speaker 1>to climate change, and the author who's going to be

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<v Speaker 1>joining us in just a second, Peter Fakowski, argues that

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<v Speaker 1>there are actually technologies out there that are safe and

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<v Speaker 1>effective in reducing carbon Yeah, this is an interesting dude.

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<v Speaker 1>He's an m I T. Educated physicist and engineers worked

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<v Speaker 1>for NASA. Uh. He's also worked at the fair Child Slumberg,

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<v Speaker 1>a AI Intel lab in Palolato, California. So he looks

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<v Speaker 1>at this from a very it sounds like scientific way.

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<v Speaker 1>So let's get to Peter. He joins us now via

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<v Speaker 1>zoom from Los Altos, California. Peter, it is good to

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<v Speaker 1>have you here with us. We've only got a certain

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<v Speaker 1>amount of time. Climate anything with the climate is a

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<v Speaker 1>big topic that you could spend hours on. Tell us

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<v Speaker 1>about your thesis. What is climate restoration? Well, climate restoration

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<v Speaker 1>is very interesting. It's the it's the goal of restoring

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<v Speaker 1>the climate that humans have actually survived long term, and

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<v Speaker 1>so it's much more radical than the conventional thinking of

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<v Speaker 1>trying to reduce the damage. It's uh, it's the engineering

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<v Speaker 1>idea of we want to restore what works for human

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<v Speaker 1>beings well, and it turns out that we have the

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<v Speaker 1>technology and the finance to do it. We just need

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<v Speaker 1>to start talking about it because we've been talking about

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<v Speaker 1>a much worse goal. What's interesting is I've never heard

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<v Speaker 1>of this technology that you argue we have right now.

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<v Speaker 1>Ocean pasture restoration for example, synthetic limestone manufacture, seaweed permaculture,

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<v Speaker 1>and methane oxidation. These are the four technologies you say

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<v Speaker 1>that can help us get us there. Let's start with

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<v Speaker 1>ocean pasture restoration. How does it work? Yeah, so the

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<v Speaker 1>four methods. First of all, the reason that you have

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<v Speaker 1>an heard about them is that we haven't had to

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<v Speaker 1>goal of restoring the climate yet. These have all been

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<v Speaker 1>around for quite a while. Um Ocean pastor restoration also

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<v Speaker 1>called ocean iron fertilization. It is this the same process

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<v Speaker 1>that Nature uses to uh to cool the planet before

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<v Speaker 1>ice ages, and so nature removes a trillion tons of

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<v Speaker 1>C O two before for each ice age. There have

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<v Speaker 1>been ten in the last million years. And we know

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<v Speaker 1>how to do the same thing. And the idea is UH.

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<v Speaker 1>We all know that photosynthesis like trees, absorbs CO two.

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<v Speaker 1>But the trouble with trees, of course, is that they

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<v Speaker 1>end up dying after a few decades and the carbon

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<v Speaker 1>goes back into the air when the trees wrong. In

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<v Speaker 1>the ocean, when plants grow, they sink and so and

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<v Speaker 1>then there's no oxygen in the deep ocean, and so

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<v Speaker 1>the carbon. They take the carbon with them as they

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<v Speaker 1>and of course a lot of the plants are eaten

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<v Speaker 1>by fish and all the detritus sinks into the deep ocean.

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<v Speaker 1>And as I said, that's how nature uh cool the

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<v Speaker 1>planet for our ice ages. And so the way this operates,

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<v Speaker 1>and it was tested ten years ago. It was tested

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<v Speaker 1>also by Mount Pinatubo thirty years ago. UM is uh local,

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<v Speaker 1>it's localized, and it's intermittent. So you do it. They

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<v Speaker 1>do it in eddies, which are about a hundred miles

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<v Speaker 1>in diameter in the ocean. And UH. The eddy contains

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<v Speaker 1>the iron. The iron is phenomenally small amount. It's like

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<v Speaker 1>a hundredth of a teaspoon per square meter, and um,

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<v Speaker 1>within days it turns green from blue. Blue is beautiful,

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<v Speaker 1>but it's not green. Green is where you have photosynthesis.

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<v Speaker 1>And then within another week or so fish start coming

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<v Speaker 1>in and feeding on there on the the luncheon counter there, uh,

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<v Speaker 1>and and off you go. When it was tested, they

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<v Speaker 1>were told that they just a question a hundred million

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<v Speaker 1>tons of CEO two. That sounds like a lot. What's

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<v Speaker 1>interesting is you know, and we're gonna continue the conversation

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<v Speaker 1>just a moment and maybe talk about some of the

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<v Speaker 1>other methods and just got about a minute here and

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<v Speaker 1>then we'll continue on the other side of the break.

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<v Speaker 1>But I do wonder at the same time, do we

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<v Speaker 1>not also though you need to think about reducing our

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<v Speaker 1>carbon footprint? Yes, we absolutely do. Well, yes, and no

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<v Speaker 1>that we we need to reduce our carbon footprint. Worrying

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<v Speaker 1>is really less effective than doing it, and so I've

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<v Speaker 1>focus on just do it. Uh. You know, I'm planning

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<v Speaker 1>to have an electric car be my next car when

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<v Speaker 1>my current car wears out. And I think probably a

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<v Speaker 1>lot of the people listening are already planning on that,

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<v Speaker 1>so that transition is happening, but we haven't been thinking

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<v Speaker 1>about actually restoring the climate. And especially for our young listeners,

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<v Speaker 1>plan on being around rather than giving up the ghosts,

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<v Speaker 1>because if you plan on being around, then you'll pay

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<v Speaker 1>attention to these big four solutions. I want to continue

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<v Speaker 1>with that and talk seaweed permaculture and exactly what it

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<v Speaker 1>is and how it gets carbon out of the ecosystem. Yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>seaweed permaculture is a variation on on the iron fertilization.

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<v Speaker 1>So as I said, Uh, the important thing in the

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<v Speaker 1>ocean is when you grow plants, when they die, they

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<v Speaker 1>sink with is no oxygen and the oxygen stays out.

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<v Speaker 1>And with seaweed permaculture, the for the nutrients that are

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<v Speaker 1>missing are brought up from the deep ocean in a

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<v Speaker 1>large pipe solar powered, takes very very little energy, and

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<v Speaker 1>then um, the seaweed grows. Some of the seaweed is used,

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<v Speaker 1>uh is actually harvested and sold for products, some of

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<v Speaker 1>which sell for a thousand dollars a ton um. And uh,

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<v Speaker 1>probably half the seaweed ends up falling deep into the ocean. UH,

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<v Speaker 1>some of it cut, some of it just naturally falling,

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<v Speaker 1>and it's fairly simple. The difficulty is you've got they

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<v Speaker 1>build a structure that this the help grows on and

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<v Speaker 1>and that takes some technology. But just like the the

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<v Speaker 1>iron fertilization, it's uh, that's a commercial product, and so

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<v Speaker 1>so it pays for itself a peter you spent, it's

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<v Speaker 1>a commercial product. Let's talk an end there because I'm wondering,

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<v Speaker 1>if this is so effective, where's the money in it?

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<v Speaker 1>And I asked that in the you know, the question

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<v Speaker 1>not in a cynical way, but in a way that

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<v Speaker 1>motivates companies to do this to make sure that we

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<v Speaker 1>have a future. Yes, it's an interesting challenge because uh,

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<v Speaker 1>you know, of the we have are the four U

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<v Speaker 1>pathways and they're all self financing UM and this is

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<v Speaker 1>the same model that put a c O two into

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<v Speaker 1>the air. That is, we had companies selling us heat

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<v Speaker 1>and energy which had a by product putting CEO two

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<v Speaker 1>up with these for products, the the uh, the seaweed,

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<v Speaker 1>the limestone, the ocean fertilization which leads to fish. You

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<v Speaker 1>get product which has a byproduct of pulling CEO two out.

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<v Speaker 1>Right Now, the challenge is UM and This is something

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<v Speaker 1>that we're dealing with right now, is we're afraid to

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<v Speaker 1>list these on the on the open market because the

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<v Speaker 1>customers I canna say, wait a minute, my retirement depends

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<v Speaker 1>on it. And so we want to make sure that

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<v Speaker 1>people doing this are primarily interested in restoring the climate

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<v Speaker 1>for our children and grandchildren, only secondarily interested in making money. Well,

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<v Speaker 1>it almost sounds like you've gotta have governments involved who

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<v Speaker 1>recognize these methods and before it gets too late. Peter Fakowski,

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<v Speaker 1>thank you so much, founder uh In Shermany Meritus, a

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<v Speaker 1>Foundation for Climate Restoration. Check out his book that has

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<v Speaker 1>got the title of Climate Restoration in it. Thanks for

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<v Speaker 1>listening to Bloomberg Business Week. Download the podcast iTunes, SoundCloud,

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