Right, Washington Post, Whales Aren’t Carbon Sinks, Especially If Offshore Wind Kills Them
By H. Sterling Burnett -May 15, 20230
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The Washington Post (WP) ran a story discussing the possibility of counting whales as carbon sinks or offsets, concluding that any carbon stored in whales would be insufficient to offset more than a fraction of human carbon dioxide emissions. This is true, and especially so as there is mounting evidence to suggest that efforts to fight climate change by building large industrial offshore wind projects are contributing to a growing rate of excess whale deaths.
In the WP story, “Whales Are the New Trees: Neither Will Save the Climate,” author Mark Gongloff writes:
A few years ago, a group of economists proposed that whale populations be treated as counterweights to pollution, much in the same way that supporting tree-planting allows individuals and businesses to “cancel out” their carbon emissions.
Here’s the basic idea: Whales store a lot of carbon in their massive bodies. They also poop prodigiously, creating a food source for phytoplankton, which themselves collectively hold even vaster amounts of carbon. And when whales die, their bodies sink to the ocean floor, trapping carbon in deep water for hundreds of years.
https://climaterealism.com/2023/05/right-washington-post-whales-arent-carbon-sinks-especially-if-offshore-wind-kills-them/
