Speculative Fact #315: Stone Solid Carbon Emission Solution

One of the major threats from our heavy industry is the effect that carbon emissions have on the global environment. Carbon Dioxide, among other things, is a greenhouse gas that worsens anthropogenic global warming. Interestingly, a technique tested in Iceland has suggested a feasible way to store and transform the gas into harmless rock.
            By pouring a mix of CO2 and water into volcanic minerals (which Iceland is rich in), the research team imitates the Carbon Dioxide cycle on Earth (which normally takes thousands of years to complete). The mixture turns into carbonic acid (like seltzer water) which is then filtered out by basaltic minerals until it solidifies. It is a relatively fast process and is an achievable solution to our global emission problem. Other methods have proposed pumping the gas underground. Although these methods are less expensive, the gas could leak and so the storage sites must be monitored, as well as being more complicated.
            Some of the problems facing humanity are existential, but some are technical problems requiring technical solutions. The future generations of brilliant engineers can help humanity avoid its own extinction if we act now. Our survival may literally be right underneath our noses.

-Jonathan Hernandez