Researchers: cut carbon dioxide by dumping crop waste into the ocean

It’s a decidedly low-tech way to deal with a 21st century problem, but a newly published paper argues that the world can cut carbon dioxide emissions up to 15 percent a year by taking the crop waste leftover after the harvest and dumping it into the deep ocean.

Stuart Strand, of the University of Washington and coauthor Gregory Benford, of the University of California at Irvine, argue in the journal Environmental Science & Technology that such a reduction is possible by dumping 30 percent of world crop residues at least 1,500 meters deep in the oceans. The method would lock up the carbon in the crop waste deep underwater for thousands of years, the authors said.

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Researchers: Cut Carbon Dioxide by Dumping Crop Waste into the Ocean

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