In honor of World Water Day, learn all about how the startup Kelp Blue is cultivating giant kelp as a nature-based solution to a more sustainable future.
Only Natural Diamonds – BY PAULA LEE|Ā
Diamonds and Kelp: The Unexpected Duo Helping Fight Climate Change.
The United NationsĀ has dubbed March 22, āWorld Water Dayā to highlightĀ the importance of fresh waterĀ and to advocate for the sustainable management of freshwater resources. When you think of kelp, you may automatically think of seaweed that gives your favorite sushi roll a flavorful hit of umami. But did you know that the marine plant is also a player in the fight to reverse climate change?
Netherlands-based mariculture startupĀ Kelp BlueĀ is joining the charge with its mission to grow large-scale kelp forests to not only capture carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, but also to increase biodiversity in the ocean while developing nature-based products for regenerative agriculture. Itās an innovative, multi-pronged approach that has the capability to reduce stress on the environment and restore equilibrium to the planet.
āJust by creating a lot of biomass, youāre storing carbon,āĀ Caroline Slootweg, co-founder and CCO/CMO of Kelp Blue, tellsĀ Only Natural Diamonds. āBut also by creating an ecosystem and increasing that marine biodiversity, youāre adding to ocean resilience. If we donāt have healthy oceans, then we wonāt exist. So we think kelp is one of the solutions, notĀ theĀ solution, but one that should seriously be considered.ā
āWhen you create these giant forests, you also create an enormous amount of space for an ecosystem to develop,ā explains Slootweg. āWherever thereās kelp, thereās an enormous amount of marine life. About 800 species have been known to live in and around these giant kelp forests.ā To learn more about the fish and marine creatures that call the deep seas home, Kelp Blue developed an environmental tracking and acoustic sensing program to catalog the evolving ecosystem.