SETTING a thief to catch a thief always was a dodgy proposition. And so, we
suggest, is unleashing one form of pollution to neutralise another. That’s the
problem with an ingenious plan hatched by Australian scientists to fertilise the
oceans as a way of curbing global warming. The idea is to pipe nitrogen-rich
fertiliser into the sea to grow plankton that will soak up carbon dioxide from
the water and, ultimately, the atmosphere
(see p 18).
Even if it works, this is a bad case of tunnel vision. For nitrogen pollution
itself is one of the great human-made threats…
