Having a whale of a time

Welcome back to The Strawman, the daily climate newsletter that dives deep to bring you the good stuff - think of us like pearl-divers for climate facts. Get the scuba gear out, we’re going under today.

Today, we’re looking at what happens when non-scientists start reading science papers. Their hearts were likely in the right place, but as we’ll see, sometimes domain knowledge can be helpful.

A whale of a tale - busting pseudo-science

Whale poo: the environmental gold dust you didn’t know you needed. Or is it? See, recently some economists proposed the Whale Carbon Plus project. It’s quite complex, but here are the highlights:

• Carbon credits are gaining traction (a way for companies and organisations to “buy the right” to emit a certain amount of carbon - with the cash spent used to negate the impact of what they emitted

• Phytoplankton in the sea produce >50% of the world’s oxygen and suck 4x as much CO2 out of the air as the entire Amazon rainforest

• More whales = more phytoplankton

• Hence you can create a market for people to “buy whales” and the associated carbon sequestration abilities

Quick reminder on sequestration (we’ll dive in on a different newsletter) - it’s essentially a fancy term for capturing and storing carbon dioxide, kind of like a vacuum cleaner for greenhouse gases.

It's nature's way of hitting the 'Undo' button on the mess we've made. When it comes to whale poo (yes, we're still talking about it), the idea is that these majestic creatures can act as underwater carbon vacuums, thanks to their nutrient-rich excretions that help phytoplankton grow.

Sounds nuts right? Well, hold onto your snorkel because this theory is based on a science paper that was released as an April Fools' joke.

Focusing on the important stuff

I’m all for pie in the sky solutions - but when it comes to climate change, there’s no room for amateur hour.

This whale-sized blunder highlights the danger of non-scientists trying to tackle scientific issues without the proper knowledge. The proposal was taken seriously enough to gain coverage in the Financial Times. It’s like boy who cried wolf - if people see enough ridiculous solutions, eventually they stop paying attention.

In this age of information overload, it's essential to separate the chum from the truth. So, before you go investing in whale poo futures, remember to do your due diligence and stick to the facts - as always, the Strawman will be here to help you figure out what’s what.

See ya tomorrow,

The Strawman