A nonprofit company called Project Vesta an experiment will begin shortly on a Caribbean beach. It is a new way to combat climate change.
The method involves spreading olivine, a cheap green mineral, over the sand. There the ocean waves will pass over the mineral, which will in turn capture CO2 from the air. In summary: green sand beaches.
“Our vision is to help reverse climate change by turning a trillion tons of carbon dioxide into rock.” She affirms it Tom Green, executive director of Project Vesta.
The idea is to accelerate a natural process that normally takes place very slowly, over geological timescales. “When rain falls on volcanic rocks, those rocks dissolve a little bit and it triggers a chemical reaction that pulls carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere and into the water,” Green says.
Grinding up olivine and then spreading it on beaches where ocean waves can further break it down triggers the same chemical reaction that pulls CO2 from the air.
Green beaches with geohacking: not without risk
Previous theoretical studies have concluded that the process would work, but so far no one has attempted to actually do it on the beaches. And it is not without risk. There are many unknowns that could derive from the spread of a rock on beaches where it does not exist naturally.
Some critics raise the possibility that olivine could release heavy metals like nickel, for one.
While Green says nickel released into the water is not bioavailable (meaning it shouldn't impact marine species), concerns remain.
