Alright, so you’ve just booked your vacation in the Caribbean. It’s been a while since you’ve had any sort of vacation, so you’re especially excited. You quickly drop your things at the hotel, swap into the swimsuit, then rush out to the beach…
…only to find it’s turned green.
Yes – there’s a decent chance you may stumble across a green beach someday soon. And when we say “green beach”, we mean it both literally and figuratively. Let us explain!
Project Vesta: Tapping into Earth’s natural CO2 removal process
Did you know that the Earth has a natural CO2 removal process?
It happens when rain falls on volcanic rock, causing it to degrade and flow into a nearby ocean. This “traps” CO2 under the sea bed, removing it from the atmosphere – naturally and safely!
A new initiative is taking full advantage of this natural process to help clean up our atmosphere – one beach at a time. Called Project Vesta, the initiative will transport this special type of volcanic rock (called olivine) to nearby beaches, maximizing the amount of CO2 the “CO2 trap” can hold.
Not only does this create more opportunity to “trap” CO2, it also speeds up the process – thanks to the waves! As waves crash into the beach, they smash the rock into even smaller pieces, allowing it to carry more CO2 to its safe final resting place.
Bringing theory to practice
Despite the fact that this natural process has been known for years, nobody was doing anything about it – until Project Vesta came about.
“About 30 years of scientific research has gone into this, including a lot of theoretical work, a lot of lab experiments,” says Tom Green, executive director of Project Vesta.
“Where we came along was to say: why is this stuck in the lab? We need real-life beach experiments to prove that this actually works in the wild.”
The project has already begun, with donations pouring in from sources like payment processing company Stripe and others. They announced their first project on Earth Day 2020 – they’ve already selected a beach for the first phase and have commenced sampling of olivine.
The project will continue to ramp up in coming years, especially as it provides real data that the theory works. So, you may not be finding green beaches on your next vacation… but in time, all the world’s beaches could end up green (in more ways than one)!
Learn more at https://projectvesta.org/
Robert Spratlin says
Super interesting!!!!! Keep it up. BobTheSprat.
Raymond Corbin says
We allways love the easy way to dump everything we can not use. We must stop storing this time bomb in our sea bed. It is allready so full of micro plastics, steel, lead, poisons, our fish and food are full of it. ( All our Plants need CO2.) Firstly we must stop removing vegetation world wide that uses co2..
“Please Please Stop” waisting your “Precious Time and Money” finding where we can dump CO2, lets concentrate on finding a way to use this CO2. We must stop / reduce/ “OR REUSE” the production of co2 world wide. To a point where we have a balanced CO2 producion / use.
Colin Edwards says
Fair point Raymond, however I think the need for action is urgent enough that short term measure should be put into action alongside the long-term investments already being made, tree planting, re-wilding, and campaigning against the reckless large scale deforestation which continues. More important still to maintain quality education so our children and young adults are well informed and enabled to take positive action. These are also seeds planted in fertile soil.
Rick Desjardins says
This is interesting. My biggest concern is that the study includes a very thorough analysis of the short term and long term affects this may have on plant and animal life. Otherwise it sounds very encouraging and certainly worth the effort to test it out.
Penny Wilde says
So informative…good stuff👍
Herb says
I wonder if anyone has considered the creatures that live in the sand and rely on the oxygen for life are effected by all of this. Maybe we will see green crabs and fish and shrimp and many other sea life turn green too,or die out. Maybe seaweed will thrive and take over seabeds, there could be lots of ramifications from deviating from mother nature. only time will tell.
Tal D. Noble says
Can this “green clean” be used in areas other than beaches? And, if so, how might the word be gotten out to gain support and creative action?
Cheryl Vhal says
I get hundreds of emails every day and so frequently, I review the ones that aren’t work related with a view to unsubscribe. However, each time I do this for Giddyup, I am once again reminded what an interesting and worthwhile read it is and keep it, every time. Keep up the great work!
GiddyUp says
We’re so happy to hear this, Cheryl! Thanks for taking the time to let us know 🙂
Jeff Dunning says
The future provides the evidence of BS or good knowledge. Pray not more foolishness.
Siets Meijer says
What is it with CO2 being bad?????? It makes all green plants grow as it helps them retain water. Als plants convert CO2 into oxygen while processing it. We look like a bunch of cackling idiots parroting the same old same old.
Robert Leete says
A very lnteresting and potentially beneficial project. Thanks for the info. GiddyUp and please keep it coming !
Pete says
How about we stop clearing forests & replant those already devastated by greedy big businesses. Plants & trees use Co2 to grow, let’s get back to living a natural life as it should be. Stop dumping things where they don’t belong!