Earth Climate Optimisation Productivity Island Array (ECOPIATM)
Authors: Allen John , Fitzgerald Calum , Franks Lonnie 
Published: March 2022

&lt;p&gt;A new nature based solution for capturing the entire man-made emission of carbon dioxide per year and locking it away in the deep ocean, called ECOPIA&lt;sup&gt;TM&lt;/sup&gt;, has been devised by a marine think tank, MyOcean Resources Ltd. This is a global solution to the anthropogenic climate change problem, without environmental downsides - it provides the fix. By using the characteristics of the Ocean, ECOPIA&lt;sup&gt;TM&lt;/sup&gt; removes the excess atmospheric CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;, de-acidifies the ocean&amp;#8217;s waters, creates new sustainable fisheries, and most importantly allows the economies of the world to continue to grow and prosper.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;ECOPIA&lt;sup&gt;TM&lt;/sup&gt; is able to address the anthropogenic climate change problem whilst having a positive global impact on economic growth. It enables continued economic growth for all nations by balancing the problem of excess atmospheric CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; rather than following strategies that require a reduction in economic activities. Trying to reduce the amount of excess CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; emitted by economies can be considered the biggest waste management issue the world has to solve; however current strategies have had trouble getting traction due to their negative impact on economic growth.&amp;#160;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;By transillumination of the giant deserts of the Ocean, we can reduce the amount of atmospheric CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; at the same time as de-acidifying the oceans, by empowering natural oceanic primary productivity simply through the provision of light. This allows ECOPIA&lt;sup&gt;TM&lt;/sup&gt; to be an effective CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; waste management solution for the atmosphere. Rather than having to harm economic growth through difficult to achieve emissions reductions, companies can work with ECOPIA&lt;sup&gt;TM&lt;/sup&gt; to genuinely offset their atmospheric CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; emissions, through photosynthetic CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; uptake.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;These enormous deserts of the sub-tropical open oceans, one seventh (~ 50 million km&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt;) of the whole of the Earth&amp;#8217;s ocean area, are reportedly getting bigger; with productive surface waters being replaced by an increase in the minimally productive surface waters of the oligotrophic gyres, at a rate of 0.8 million km&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt; per year . ECOPIA&lt;sup&gt;TM&lt;/sup&gt; in total only requires 0.2 million km&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt; of those gyres, just one quarter of the current increase in area per year.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Many of the nature based solutions have significant uncertainties that largely come about from the farming-like practise of changing the composition of the &amp;#8216;soil&amp;#8217; or in this case the ocean waters. ECOPIA&lt;sup&gt;TM&lt;/sup&gt; takes a different approach, that of channelling light down to the depths where there are plenty of naturally determined nutrients and seed population, thus we are no longer &amp;#8216;farming&amp;#8217; we are simply providing light. Furthermore, as there is no strict geo-engineering involved, ECOPIA&lt;sup&gt;TM&lt;/sup&gt; provides no mechanism for a preferential pressure on the naturally determined diversity of the light cultured ecosystem.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;It has been noted by the UK's, HRH the Prince of Wales, amongst others, that the global anthropogenic climate change issue can only be solved by Industry. ECOPIA&lt;sup&gt;TM &lt;/sup&gt;stands out in that it is self-fundable, both in infrastructure and operational costs, via the use of Carbon Credits at today&amp;#8217;s prices, allowing Industry to solve the issue in an affordable way.&lt;/p&gt;