As a kid growing up along the Rhode Island coast I was fortunate enough to be able to go to the beach and swim on a regular basis during the summer months. I hated sun bathing, so my place was in the water. Other than a thunderstorm and those dreaded crabs, the one thing that could ruin a nice swim in the bay was the seaweed. That stuff would just magically appear from out of the blue and just surround you, and by that time I was done for the day. I also remember throwing the stuff at my older sister and she would start screaming, which was funny at the time. Anyway, speaking of seaweed, a group of scientists at the Climate Conference in Bali believe that seaweed could be a potent weapon against global warming by sucking carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere at rates similar to the largest rain forests, according to an AP article. The seaweed's rapid rate of photosynthesis is the main factor in its effectiveness in carbon absorption.

While most of the recent focus to carbon sinks have been on the forests, seaweed scientists (I still can not get over that title! Imagine your dad asking "What do you want to be when you grow up?" "I want to be a seaweed scientist daddy!") believe the world should look to the sea, where nearly 8 million tons of seaweed and algae are cultivated every year, especially in Asia. The scientists believe that more efficient cultivation methods could make this work. Seaweed can also produce clean-burning bio-fuels.

On the other hand, skeptics say seaweed is cultivated and harvested in cycles of only months compared to trees, which are more effective at carbon storage since they can last for years. Floating seaweed farms could also complicate fishing and shipping activities.

Update........

Oh, I almost forgot, If you were wondering what happened to part 2 of the Fred Singer video interview last week it will be posted either tomorrow or Friday. Katie was unable to finish editing the Singer video last week since she was in New York City doing a number of interviews for Headline Earth. One of those interviews was with the famous Dr. James Hansen, and you will be able to see part one of her three-part, one-on-one interview with Dr. Hansen starting next week.