Can Seaweed Save the Planet?

Featured Speaker: Professor Jennifer Smith

There is an increasingly keen awareness of the
ways in which humans disrupt natural undersea
processes. This lecture will concentrate on the
study of seaweeds, with particular focus on how
certain species have the potential to increase world
sustainability. Seaweeds represent an incredibly
diverse group of photosynthetic organisms that
live in the ocean and offer immense opportunities
for commercialization and innovation across many
sectors of society. Seaweeds can have the power to
mitigate methane production within the stomachs
of cows, thereby limiting the greenhouse gases
produced by cow burps. The livestock population
of the world is enormous, and its production of
greenhouse gases by such means is equal to that of
the entire global transportation industry. At a time
when scientists and much of the world are searching
for ways to limit global warming, this work offers a
significant means of limiting the production of heattrapping
greenhouse gases.

Presenter Biography

Jennifer Smith is a Professor at
Scripps Institution of Oceanography. She received
her B.S. from Humboldt State and her Ph.D.
from the University of Hawaii. She has had a
variety of interests including coral-reef ecology,
conservation biology, and factors that influence
community structure in marine ecosystems.

Coordinator: Jim Brown