Van Helsing covered this story yesterday, something I never got around to, lazy bum on a day off (OK, we were drinking and golfing in afternoon): Sperm whale poo helps planet
SPERM whale poo helps remove carbon from the atmosphere, a study shows.
Southern Ocean sperm whales offset their carbon emissions by defecating – or pooing – iron on phytoplankton, Flinders University research has found.
The study by PhD student Trish Lavery shows that rather than increasing atmospheric carbon levels through respiration, Southern Ocean sperm whales offset their carbon emissions by pooing on the phytoplankton.
“Sperm whale poo is rich in iron, which stimulates phytoplankton to grow and trap carbon,” Ms Lavery said in a statement.
“When the phytoplankton die, the trapped carbon sinks to the deep ocean.
Van was pulling from a different story I used, and picked up this little chunk
Industrialised whaling not only gravely threatened Southern Ocean sperm whales, it also damaged a major carbon “sink,” the scientific term for something that removes more greenhouse gases than it produces… The future of sperm whales and other species comes under scrutiny next week in Agadir, Morocco, where the International Whaling Commission (IWC) discusses a plan to relax a 24-year moratorium on commercial whaling.
Got that? We do not need to stop commercial whaling because they are majestic, incredible, awe inspiring creatures, but, because they help reduce anthropogenic global warming. Sigh.
BTW, sperm whales prefer warmer, ice free waters. I bet they are loving the current naturally warmer period a whole lot better than during the Little Ice Age.
That’s what Really warmed up the Earth the past 150 years!
Recall the Little Ice Age, where the average temp of the Earth was as much as 2.5 degrees colder than it is today (mind you, this is Before michael mann made the LIA disappear from his Hockey Stick chart). Right about that same period of time, whaling began in earnest…. they wiped out SO many, the Earth began to warm up!
So… what’s with all the FALSEHOODS
…about CO2.
And since When is the Tab button an ‘Enter’ button?
What happened?
What about Poo Whale sperm? Huh? Huh?