Tim Flannery: Can seaweed help curb global warming?
Tim Flannery: As algas marinhas podem ajudar a conter o aquecimento global?
Explorer and professor Tim Flannery seeks to grasp the big picture of planetary evolution and how humans can affect it -- for better or for worse. Full bio
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some remarkable qualities.
of that seaweed,
dessas algas marinhas,
as atmospheric CO2,
como CO2 atmosférico,
of climate change.
negativas das mudanças climáticas.
safely away in the seaweed,
com segurança nas algas marinhas,
it's not far away --
back to the atmosphere.
if we could find a way
encontrar uma maneira
to solving the climate problem?
para resolver o problema climático?
of the climate challenge.
do desafio climático.
we have delayed so long,
and very difficult things at once.
muito grandes e difíceis ao mesmo tempo.
and clean our energy supply
e limpar nosso suprimento de energia,
significant volumes
volumes significativos
of the CO2 we put in the air
cerca de 25% do CO2 que colocamos no ar
by human standards, forever.
para os padrões humanos.
in addressing the climate crisis
para enfrentar a crise climática
really don't make sense
de carbono não fazem sentido
some greenhouse gas into the atmosphere,
de efeito estufa na atmosfera,
by drawing it down."
tanto quanto reduzir o CO2,
de efeito estufa, particularmente CO2,
of greenhouses gases, particularly CO2,
de um preço do carbono.
that we'll pay for that service
que pagaremos por esse serviço
quase nenhum progresso
of the climate challenge.
at times, I hear people saying,
about the climate crisis."
qualquer coisa sobre a crise climática".
nights too, I can tell you.
for this humble weed, seaweed.
dessas humildes algas marinhas.
the challenge of climate change
das mudanças climáticas
we need to do over the next 80-odd years
que nos próximos 80 anos,
de gases de efeito estufa
out of the atmosphere every year.
da atmosfera todos os anos.
that they baffle us.
que nos confundem.
tell us we need to do.
dizem que precisamos fazer.
in terms of telling the story
de contar a história
in climate change work
no trabalho da mudança climática
em lidar com as mudanças climáticas.
to address climate change.
and greenhouse gas concentrations.
de gases de efeito estufa.
scientific announcements that we've made,
científicos que fizemos,
com as mudanças climáticas.
we face with climate change.
de um novo pensamento,
greenhouse gases at a large scale?
de efeito estufa em larga escala?
into drawdown.
smelling like roses at the end of the day.
vai cheirar a rosas no final das contas.
mas há muitas possibilidades.
and biological pathways.
of getting the job done.
that's needed to drive them, the sun,
necessária para conduzi-los,
photosynthesis in plants,
a fotossíntese nas plantas,
and capture the carbon.
they're not bad at all.
mas na verdade não são ruins.
that we have to actually pay
that's required to do the job
of a chemical pathway,
um ótimo exemplo de caminho químico
para tirar CO2 da atmosfera
to take CO2 out of the atmosphere
or manufacture plastics.
are drawing down a gigaton of CO2 a year.
uma gigatonelada de CO2 por ano.
a lot more hope, I think,
mais esperança, eu acho, a curto prazo.
about reforestation, planting trees,
de reflorestamento, plantio de árvores,
of this problem by using trees?
esse problema usando árvores?"
for a number of reasons.
little tiny things,
como sementes, pequenas coisas,
before they've reached
todo seu potencial de captura de carbono.
you see that it's so heavily utilized.
vemos que ela já é muito utilizada.
we get our forestry products from it,
nossos produtos florestais,
and water and everything else.
água e tudo mais, dela.
to deal with this problem,
para lidar com isso
an existing industry,
em que já existe uma atividade
about 70 percent of our planet.
de 70% do nosso planeta.
importante na regulação do nosso clima,
in regulating our climate,
the growth of seaweed in them,
de algas marinhas neles,
to develop a climate-altering crop.
uma cultura que vai alterar o clima.
different kinds of seaweed,
de algas marinhas,
genetic diversity in seaweed,
inacreditável nelas,
multicelulares a evoluir.
multicellular organisms ever to evolve.
kinds of seaweed now
tipos especiais de algas marinhas
pharmaceutical products.
farmacêuticos de alta qualidade.
to take a seaweed bath,
um banho de algas marinhas,
mas vocês podem tentar.
but you can do it.
about seaweed farming.
na agricultura de algas marinhas.
nine percent of the world's ocean
9% do oceano do mundo
of all of the greenhouse gases
a todos os gases de efeito estufa
mais de 50 gigatoneladas.
when I first read it,
quando li pela primeira vez,
de 9% dos oceanos do mundo.
nine percent of the world's oceans is.
a quatro Austrálias e meia,
four and a half Australias,
to that at the moment?
oceânicas realmente temos por aí?
do we actually have out there?
and therein lies some hope.
e aí reside alguma esperança.
de algas marinhas sendo construída
that's currently under construction
things about seaweed.
growing on that rack,
from anything you see on land.
de tudo que vemos em terra,
seaweed is not like trees,
não são como árvores,
and branches and bark.
is pretty much photosynthetic,
praticamente fotossintética,
crescer um metro por dia.
is cut that seaweed off --
cortar as algas marinhas,
out of the atmospheric system
efetivamente fora do sistema atmosférico
about forest fires, bugs, etc.,
com incêndios, insetos, etc.,
going down into the depths.
a vast biological desert.
um grande deserto biológico.
that were used up long ago.
usados há muito tempo.
of clean, renewable energy,
de energia limpa e renovável,
to irrigate your seaweed crop.
a plantação de algas marinhas.
so many benefits.
talvez até salvadora do planeta.
planet-saving solution.
about at this scale
em escala planetária.
de algas marinhas fedorentas
the least of our problems.
dos nossos problemas.
that will happen.
quando falo sobre isso
when I talk about this,
no oceano profundo.
in the deep ocean.
de algas marinhas no oceano,
into the deep ocean,
already reaches the deep ocean,
já atingem o fundo do oceano,
de desfiladeiros submarinos.
about a novel process here;
enhancing a natural process.
seaweed farms will need to be mobile,
de algas oceânicas precisem ser móveis,
across vast areas of the ocean,
por grandes áreas do oceano,
a big stinking pile in one place.
fedorento em um só lugar.
to char the seaweed --
que queimar as algas marinhas,
mineral biochar
de "biocarvão" mineral inerte,
to contemporary seaweed farming.
contemporânea de algas marinhas.
de US$ 6 bilhões por ano.
Coreia do Sul podem ser vistas do espaço.
they are huge.
not just seaweed farms.
is something called ocean permaculture.
em lugares como esse.
and seaweed all together.
e algas marinhas todos juntos.
tornam a água do mar menos ácida.
makes the seawater less acid.
for growing marine protein.
para o cultivo de proteínas marinhas.
of the world's oceans
in the form of fish and shellfish
suficiente na forma de peixe e marisco
in a population of 10 billion
numa população de 10 bilhões,
protein per year.
de alta qualidade por ano.
we can feed the world,
alimentar o mundo, desacidificar oceanos.
is going to be challenging.
many billions of dollars
to get to the gigaton scale.
à escala de gigatoneladas.
that this is going to happen
de que isso vai acontecer
out of the air,
adverse consequences.
consequências negativas.
to dealing with this problem
uma solução pra lidar com o problema
to being economically sustainable.
de ser economicamente sustentável.
a carbon-emitting economy
uma economia emissora de carbono
that we've put into the atmosphere,
que colocamos na atmosfera
can be done over 30 years,
pode ser feito em 30 anos,
a century, to 1919,
a canvas and wood biplane.
you'd be seeing jet aircraft.
dava para ver aviões a jato.
were horses in 1919.
num curto período de tempo.
that we can find a solution.
que podemos encontrar uma solução.
is bring together all of the people
how to build structures offshore,
construir estruturas em alto-mar,
how things are done.
como as coisas são feitas.
"Como ir dos atuais US$ 6 bilhões ao ano
six-billion-dollar-a-year,
which has got so much potential,
que tem muito potencial,
amounts of investment?
de investimento?"
would be on that stuff,
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Tim Flannery - EnvironmentalistExplorer and professor Tim Flannery seeks to grasp the big picture of planetary evolution and how humans can affect it -- for better or for worse.
Why you should listen
A noted explorer who has published more than 140 peer-reviewed papers and named 25 living and 50 fossil mammal species, Tim Flannery has conducted research for more than 20 years in New Guinea and surrounding countries. He has served on the board of WWF International, the Australian Wildlife Conservancy, and as an advisor to the National Geographic Society. His books include The Future Eaters: An Ecological History of the Australasian Lands and People (which has been made into a three-part documentary series) and The Weather Makers: How Man Is Changing the Climate and What It Means for Life on Earth, which has been translated into more than 20 languages.
Flannery is the cofounder of the Australian Climate Council, which provides authoritative information, advice and solutions about climate change for ordinary citizens, and chair of the Ocean Forests Foundation. In 2007 he established and chaired the Copenhagen Climate Council, and in 2011 he was appointed Australia's first Climate Commissioner.
Tim Flannery | Speaker | TED.com