Ocean Pasture Restoration
and The New Paradigm

Paul Beckwith and Regina Valdez discuss the topic of Ocean Pasture Restoration with special guests Alex Carlin, Peter Fiekowsky and Russ George. The presentation emphasizes that solving the ‘Climate Emergency’ with emissions reduction alone will not work but rather needs to also include CO2 removal in order to succeed and thereby achieve the overall goal of climate restoration.

Ocean Pasture Restoration or OPR is the key CO2 removal method discussed in this video although two other methods are also briefly mentioned. The video concludes with an upbeat performance of Alex’s ‘Climate Restoration’ song.

This video was recorded at COP26, Glasgow, Scotland, in the Durdle Door press conference room on November 5th, 2021, and published on November 20th, 2021.

This is the second of two videos on the topic of OPR with the ‘Climate Emergency Forum.’ In contrast to the first video, this one includes contributions from Peter Fiekowsky and Russ George and was recorded at COP26.

Topics discussed include the following:

• The ‘New’ Paradigm which contrasts with the ‘Old’ in that emissions reduction must also include CO2 removal to achieve climate restoration as an essential part of a climate emergency solution.
• Ocean Pasture Restoration (OPR) is the main CO2 removal method discussed along with its many practical implementation advantages. OPR is a very gentle and effective method in that it enhances what nature already does.
• A major clarification that OPR is performed only in the deep ocean, not in the shallow coastal areas, is provided. This is a major source of the misconceptions by OPR’s naysayers.
• Relative to the Amazon Rainforest, the oceans historically have contained 50 Amazon forest equivalent “pastures”, with 50 Amazons of capacity to capture carbon. This is a good news story because the timeline to restore the 50 underwater Amazons and capture this carbon is relatively shorter and much less expensive than land based solutions such as planting trees.
• A proposal is made that restoring 500 eddies, swirling in the underwater pastures, which is only around 1% of the ocean’s surface, is needed to be firmly on the road to achieving climate restoration.
• Two other forms of CO2 removal were mentioned: the production of synthetic limestone as well as the industrial growth of kelp.
• Alex performs his climate song.
• The fact that Sir David King, who was the Chief Scientific Adviser to the UK Government from 2000-2007, is now involved in the planning of experiments to trial OPR over the next 4 years.
• Stuart Scott (1948 - 2021), is thanked at the end of the presentation.

Links:

• The Foundation for Climate Restoration Website

• Misconceptions Shouldn’t Hold Up Key Climate Solution

• Earth Day Connections: NASA Study Predicts Less Saharan Dust in Future Winds

• Climate Connection: Unraveling the Surprising Ecology of Dust

• Deep carbon export from a Southern Ocean iron-fertilized diatom bloom

• Blue Planet - Synthetic Limestone

• COP25 Message – 100 Villages To Restore This Blue Planet’s Ocean Pastures Immediately

• Bring Back the Fish

• Ocean Pasture Restoration - with Stuart Scott

• Controversial geoengineering scheme will dump iron in the sea

• John Holland Martin - Oceanographer

Special Guests:

• Alex Carlin - A Foreign Correspondent on Environment for the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD). Alex is an American who currently resides in Moscow, Russia and has a Bachelors degree in Russian Literature. He is also a musician and songwriter who has written a song about Climate Restoration.

• Peter Fiekowsky - MIT-trained physicist and entrepreneur Peter Fiekowsky is committed to leaving a world we’re proud of to our children. This commitment has driven his work on multiple climate initiatives, including founding the Foundation for Climate Restoration and helping launch the Citizens’ Climate Lobby. He is also founder and president of Automated Visual Inspection (AVI) LLC. He holds 27 patents.

• Russ George - Russ has worked his whole life in eco-restoration. His companies have restored 250 million trees. In 2007 he provided testimony to the US House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming. For 7 years he has been working to create public private partnership ocean pasture restoration companies with nations in 5 of the world’s seven seas with his slogan “Bring Back The Fish.”

Panelists:

• Paul Beckwith - Climate Systems Scientist. Professor at the University of Ottawa’s Paleoclimatology Laboratory as well as at Carleton University

• Regina Valdez - Program Director, Climate Reality Project, NYC. GreenFaith Fellow and LEED Green Associate

Video Production:

• The UNFCCC’s COP26 Media Crew in the Durdle Door Press Conference Room

• Charles Gregoire – Climate Reality Leader, Electrical Engineer, Webmaster and IT prime for FacingFuture.Earth and the Climate Emergency Forum

• Heidi Brault - Climate Reality Leader, BA(Psychology), Library & Information Technician Diploma - Video production and website assistant - Organizer and convener, Metadata technician, COP26 Team Lead for FacingFuture.Earth and the Climate Emergency Forum.

Acknowledgements

Thanks to the following organizations for making this program at COP26 possible:

• Tzu-Chi Foundation
• Interfaith Center for Sustainable Development
• International Society of Ecological Economics
• Sustainable Population Australia

Attributions

Background Music:

• Title: Through the City II
• Author: Crowander
• Source: Free Music Archive
• License: CC BY-NC 4.0