Can Record Seaweed Blooms Turn Into Something Positive?

Visiting family in Florida this summer, my thoughts shifted from the mountain environment where I live, to a tropical one. When I went to the beach, one thing I noticed that made me happy were all of the marked turtle nests — there were hundreds! The other thing I noticed was lots of seaweed on the beach and in the water. It's called sargassum and record amounts of it covered beaches this year. But maybe it's not all bad.

The influx of seaweed has been more noticeable in recent years. When we went to the beach, it was hard to swim, and sometimes it was not even possible. This isn't just some random occurrence, but has to do with climate change. As temperatures rise and the oceans warm, the amount of seaweed blooming each summer increases. Also, the fertilizers we use often flow into the oceans and speed up seaweed growth. This is hurting the tourist industry and it's not great for swimming, but there is opportunity to turn the large amounts of seaweed into something good. The innovations surrounding seaweed are incredible. Here are just a few I summarized from an article in The Guardian:

• Research is being done on converting seaweed into a natural fertilizer that would be better for us and not as harmful when it washes into the oceans.

• There is a process being developed that will create an oil that can be used as a palm oil substitute. Palm oil comes from palm trees. It is in so many products and is extremely harmful to the environment. Huge rain forests are being cut down and replanted with palm trees to make palm oil. So we need a substitute!

• Finally, some scientists say harvested seaweed can be converted into a fuel that could replace crude oil.

Any solution will be expensive and complicated, but I am confident we will find a way. In the years and decades to come, climate change will bring many more changes to the environment. While the changes might seem negative at first, not all of them are. They might even be positive. "How can we turn this issue into a positive?" This is a question we need to start asking more often.