The amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the air is now at its highest level in human history, largely because of coal-burning power plants and vehicle emissions. Only about half of the more than 30 billion metric tons of CO2 emitted worldwide each year gets reabsorbed naturally by the planet’s oceans and forests.
But what if we had a system of artificial “trees” a thousand times more efficient than real ones that could suck CO2 out of the air and keep it out? Columbia University physicist Klaus Lackner is working on a filter that can do just that.
Lackner envisions artificial trees small enough to fit in a shipping container but large enough to capture a ton of CO2a day.
A sea grass bed off the coast of Mexico could serve as a carbon sink. Estrella Malca/University of Miami/NOAA/Department of Commerce
Coastal habitats, including mangrove forests and sea grass beds, ...
