Washington Post runs a LONG paid piece touting a company promising to fight Global Worming

 On October 8 the Washington Post ran the story below, under the buzz-tag "Climate Solutions."  It's utter horseshit, but the Post reporter (Kate Selig) doesn't know enough to recognize it.  Headline:
Scientists seek to turbocharge a natural process that cools the Earth

Sub-head: "Terradot, a carbon removal company, is using “enhanced rock weathering” to sequester carbon by spreading crushed volcanic rock over farmland.

By Kate Selig

Researchers at a carbon removal company are attempting to accelerate a natural process that normally unfolds over thousands or millions of years.
   The company, Terradot, is spreading tons of volcanic rock crushed into a fine dust.  As rain percolates through the soil, chemical reactions pull carbon from the air and convert it into bicarbonate ions that eventually wash into the ocean, where the carbon remains stored.

This utter horseshit/stock pump goes on for 3,000 words--an unusually long article.
Summary: rain dripping thru magic crushed volcanic rock (a.k.a "pixy dust") will "pull carbon from the air and convert it into bicarbonate ions that eventually wash into the ocean," where it will remain stored deep underground forever!

What virtually no readers know is that this is exactly what happens in the ocean, automatically, and at no cost!  See, for those who didn't pay attention in school, about three-quarters of the Earth's surface is covered by ocean.  And every square foot of ocean surface is in constant contact with...wait for it...the air.  And there's a chemical equilibrium between the amount of CO2 in the air and ocean.

But of course "chemical equilibrium" is another concept virtually no readers know anything about.  (And fair enough: they're too busy swooning over Taylor Swift.)  It's about the natural balance between two sides of any reaction.  The amount of energy on each side determines the balance point.  And what that means is that when the amount of CO2 in the air goes up a bit, more CO2 dissolves into the ocean every day to keep that balance.  And yes, CO2 dissolves readily in seawater.  Megatons per day.

For the better part of a century scientists have known the amount of CO2 in both the air and seawater.  Turns out the air holds about 3,300 "gigatons" of CO2.  By contrast, the ocean contains a staggering 50 times more CO2--between 38,000 and 41,000 "gigatons."

And as all highschool grads should know, a gigaton is...how many tons?  Surely you were taught this in the public schools, right?  Oh wait...the school system thought it was FAR more important that you know how wonderful sex-changes were.  Sure, dat way mo' impo'tant! 

We'll come back to this question after you've had a chance to answer.  For now what we need to know is that CO2 in the air constantly, automatically dissolves into seawater and eventually turns into calcium carbonate--better known as limestone.  But more to the point, it does that without any human intervention at ALL.  And at zero cost!

The ocean takes a billion tons of CO2 out of the air every day and eventually converts it to limestone.  And at no cost!

So now we have a group of scammers with a startup company that wants to a) truck volcanic rock from source to a huge, energy-gobbling crusher; then b) truck the resulting dust to farmland.  They say the dust will grab CO2, and then rain will wash the result into the ocean, where it'll be turned to rock--just as happens now.  But their company is way mo' bettah!
   Here's the breathless girl at Time mag again:

The technique, known as “enhanced rock weathering,” is emerging as a promising approach to lock away carbon on a massive scale.  Some researchers estimate the method has the potential to sequester billions of tons of carbon, helping slow global climate trends. Other major projects are underway across the globe and have collectively raised over a quarter-billion dollars.
  ...there is a growing consensus that large-scale carbon removal will be necessary to avoid some of the worst effects of climate change.  An international team of researchers estimated that the world may need to remove up to 10 gigatons of carbon dioxide a year by 2050 to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.  Ten gigatons is more than the annual greenhouse gas emissions of the United States.

Notice the dig at the U.S. at the end of the 'graf above.  And ooohhh, an "international team of researchers" say X.  All "international teams" are run by either communists or corruptocrats.  The commies want to kill all capitalist economies, while the corruptocrats in the Deep State and the U.N. know which "green" companies are about to get $100-million-dollar grants that will make their stock price explode.  So they know what to buy.  Like the corrupt Pelosi and all the rest.
 
Now: Let's assume (for the moment) that if the scammers grind a million tons of volcanic rock into magic rock dust, it'll somehow vacuum up a million tons of CO2 a year, and that all the resulting chemical (almost certainly calcium carbonate) will reach the ocean.  

WOW!  A Million tons of CO2 removed from duh air every YEAR!  Dat beez SO faaaabulous!  Hey Irene, we need to invest in dis faabulous new company, cuz dey gon' save duh Erf! 

So how much does taking a million tons of CO2 out of the air change the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere--which, you'll recall, was the stated goal, since the key claim by the Warmies is that atmospheric CO2 is warming duh Erf, remember?

So IF they take out a million tons a year, that would reduce atmospheric CO2 by one part in...how many?  Look back up the page and you'll see that the atmosphere contains about 3,300 "gigatons" of CO2.  And by now you've had enough time to remember that a gigaton is a billion tons.  So 3,300 gigatons is 3,300 BILLION tons, or 3,300,000 million tons.  So IF we assume a million tons of pixy dust per year will remove a million tons of CO2, the company would possibly reduce the amount of CO2 to 3,299,999 tons.

"Hoo, boy Irene, we gotta get in on dis!  Dis gon' be duh nex' Bitcoin!"

"A key question is whether companies like Terradot can accurately measure how much carbon they remove.  And scaling the process globally poses major logistical hurdles."

Ahh, 'hard to measure the amount of CO2 removed, y'say?  And "major logistical hurdles," y'say?  Hmmm....

"We must have rigorous [verification] so people don’t make claims for carbon credits that aren’t substantiated.”

Wait...it's just not possible that these noble pipo who gon' save duh Erf would make unsubstantianted claims for carbon credits!  Say it ain't so!

"Terradot was founded in 2022 at Stanford, growing out of an independent study between James Kanoff, an undergraduate seeking large-scale carbon removal solutions, and Scott Fendorf, an Earth science professor. Terradot began operations in Brazil in late 2023, and has spread about 100,000 tons of rock.  It's signed contracts to remove about 300,000 tons of carbon dioxide and is backed by a who’s who of Silicon Valley. 
      It expects to deliver its first carbon removal credit — representing one metric ton of verified carbon dioxide removed — by the end of this year and  then scale up from there."

Hey, if it's backed by the rich guys in Silicon Valley, it's gotta be totally legit, right?  

"Rock weathering is well-studied by scientists."

Well there ya go then!  If "scientists" (or as Fauci preferred, "Scientists") have studied it, that's good enough to get all rich liberals to buy the stock, eh?

"The process acts like a global thermostat.  When temperatures are higher, weathering speeds up, pulling carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and helping cool the planet.

That is SO faaabulous!  Wait, I thought the Warmies used to claim that when the Earth warms, the oceans release more CO2.  It's why you keep carbonated drinks in the fridge, so they lose less CO2 per day.  Sure enough, the models pushed by the Warmies predicted "thermal runaway" in which a small increase in temperature caused even higher temps.  But "global thermostat" is SO easy for people to understand, eh?

"Terradot accelerates removing CO2 by taking basalt, a rock that weathers easily, and grinding it to the texture of baby powder to increase its surface area. The rock is then placed in regions with hot, humid climates for rapid weathering.
   Brazil has some acidic soil.  In the 1960s agronomists discovered that adding lime to the soil could reduce its acidity, making the land suitable for crops. The innovation helped Brazil become a net food exporter rather than importer.
   Terradot partners with farmers to replace lime with basalt, which also balances soil acidity and has the added benefit of boosting crop yields in some areas. The company covers the cost of shipping and spreading the rock."

Wait...if the company buys the rock and covers the cost of crushing (energy input) "shipping" (energy input) and spreading it (energy input), how does the company plan to make money?
   Ohhh, dat's it: Billions of dollars from wokie gruberment "Warmies" who don't know any science but know how to grift.

Bernie Madoff, Sam Bankman-Fried and Elizabeth Holmes, call your offices.

Finally, 24 paragraphs into this LONG fawning, slobbering WaPo article, we find a tiny bit of caution:

"The claims made by enhanced rock weathering start-ups have drawn some skepticism from researchers who say they want to see data and peer-reviewed research supporting them. Terradot said it will publish its data as part of the carbon-crediting process after the credits are delivered."

For the reading-challenged that means after the company has already been paid by wokie governments and companies buying its "carbon credits."

"One academic cautioned against moving too quickly, noting what happened with 'carbon credits' issued for preserving or restoring forests.  Studies found that many of these credits were tied to projects that failed to provide real or lasting benefits, including by protecting land that was unlikely to be cleared and claiming credits for forests that were still destroyed."

Whut?  Fraud in a "We-gon'-fight-global-worming" scam?  Say it ain't so!  I shan't believe it!  Absolutely shan't!
   So immediately the propagandist writing this bullshit comes to the rescue:

"Others were more positive.  Noah Planavsky, a Yale professor who has studied enhanced rock weathering, said companies like Terradot are operating at a scale beyond what is possible in academic trials. That scale, he said, could allow for more robust estimates of carbon removal.
    Fendorf, the Stanford professor [who, readers may recall, co-founded this company], said the instinct for scientific caution is understandable, but the urgency of climate change requires a different mindset..."

Ahhh, "urgent!"  "Crisis!"  "You're all gonna DIE!"  Ever heard that shit before?  Duh Chyna virus, perhaps?  Swine flu?  Toxic masculinity?  Orange Hitler destroying ouah precious democracy?

Scare the rubes by claiming there's a deadly crisis, then offer a purported fix.  Doesn't matter that both the "crisis" and the purported "solution" are horseshit, because when the Warmies have pipo believing both, the money will flood in, eh?  Investor money and taxpayer dollars taken from other projects or borrowed from Chyna.  With ample kickbacks for the Deep State corruptocrats who awarded the grant.  Nice.
   This whole article is utter horseshit--a faaaabulously high-sounding, baffle-'em-with-bullshit scam.  Yes the chemistry is real (the ocean does the same thing), but what's nuts is thinking this will make a measurable difference in atomospheric CO2--leaving aside the fact that CO2 does NOT cause Global Worming.

Finally, because the unusual length of the piece, and its obvious slobbering, fawning PR slant, scream "paid promotion," at the end of the article the WaPo added this:

"This article was supported with a grant from the Overseas Press Club."

Wow, who could possibly have predicted this was a paid article, eh?  Paid vacation to Brazil for "reporter" Kate Selig, anyone?  Did the "Overseas Press Club" pay the Post directly?  Who runs the "Press Club"?
  And if Cackles and the Dems had won last November, the guys who founded this company would already have gotten a $100 MILLION dollar grant for...um...oh yeah: saving duh Erf!

Source: Washington Post

https://archive.is/36LED

 

Source: Washington Post