About 70% of the world’s surface is covered in oceans which are filled with plankton. Plankton that generate calcium or silica carbonate skeletons account for most direct carbon sequestration. To increase this carbon sequestration, iron can be used as a “fertilizer.” Iron fertilization is the intentional introduction of iron to the upper ocean to increase the marine food chain with the hope of fostering the sequestration of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Last year, two companies entered the space, Planktos and Climos. Although Planktos folded, Climos has received $4 million in venture funding. This highlights efforts to commercialize iron fertilization by selling carbon offset credits in exchange for the company fertilizing the oceans with iron sulfate in 60 mile by 60 mile swaths. As Wired Blog reported, leading iron fertilization scientists are not sure how much of the consumed carbon ends up sequestered and therefore “don’t have enough confidence to say that ocean iron fertilization could have any real impact on stopping or even slowing climate change.” It sounds to Biotech Mashup like potentially polluting the oceans with iron sulfate could be an environmental disaster in the making. More studies are required, and perhaps regulatory oversight, before we go dumping more chemicals into the ocean. “There are much safer and proven ways of preventing or lowering carbon dioxide levels than dumping iron in the ocean,” said Lara Hansen, chief scientist with the WWF International Climate Change Program. “This kind of experimentation with disregard for marine life and the lives of people who rely on the sea is unacceptable.