Who Is Marty Odlin, and How Is Running Tide Using Kelp to Store Carbon? | E1122

TL;DR

Marty Odlin is the founder of Running Tide, a full-stack aquaculture company building and managing large-scale living ocean systems. Running Tide focuses on oysters, scallops, clams, and kelp, including kelp that absorbs carbon, dies, sinks, and becomes sedimented on the ocean floor. Read on to understand the carbon-removal concept discussed in E1122.

Transcript

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Key Insights

• 💱 Permanent carbon removal from the atmosphere is crucial to combating climate change effectively.
• ❣️ The ocean provides a vast potential for carbon sequestration through filter feeders like oysters, scallops, clams, and kelp.
• 🥘 Consumer demand for low-carbon food options, such as shellfish, is growing, creating a market for innovative companies like Running Tide.
• 💱 A combination of behavioral change, carbon capture, and carbon sequestration efforts is necessary to address climate change comprehensively.
• 😘 Collaboration between governments, corporations, and startups is crucial to accelerating the transition to a low-carbon economy.
• 🪛 While financial support for carbon sequestration is currently driven by voluntary markets, government involvement may become necessary to scale up efforts.

Questions & Answers

Q: Who is Marty Odlin, and what does he do at Running Tide?

Marty Odlin is the founder of Running Tide. He describes it as a full-stack aquaculture company that builds and manages large-scale living ocean systems.

Q: What is Running Tide?

Running Tide is a full-stack aquaculture company focused on filter feeders and kelp. Its work involves oysters, scallops, clams, and kelp in large-scale living ocean systems.

Q: How can kelp store carbon?

Kelp is a macroalgae that can float in the ocean, die, and sink to the bottom. It can then become sedimented, storing its carbon on the ocean floor.

Q: How do oysters sequester carbon?

Carbon from the air makes its way into the water and is then formed into oyster shells. Marty Odlin says that every 100 grams of oysters eaten corresponds to 12 grams of carbon sequestered in the calcium carbonate shell.

Q: Which organisms does Running Tide focus on?

Running Tide focuses on oysters, scallops, clams, and kelp. Odlin groups the shellfish among filter feeders and describes the broader work as managing living ocean systems.

Q: Why are ancient seabeds relevant to kelp and carbon?

Odlin explains that oil exploration looks for ancient seabeds containing deposits of dead macroalgae and microalgae. Kelp is a macroalgae that can die, sink, become sedimented, and eventually become fossil fuel.

Q: How much carbon does Marty Odlin say must be removed?

Odlin says that 800 to 1000 gigatons of carbon will need to be removed from the atmosphere and oceans over the next 10 or 20 years. He describes this as the excess created during the Industrial Revolution and says removal is needed to return to a steady state.

Q: Why was Marty Odlin invited onto E1122 of This Week in Startups?

The host wanted to understand how technology companies and investors might address climate change. Chris Sacca had highlighted Running Tide as a company with ambitious scale and potential planetary impact, prompting the host to invite Odlin to discuss the company.

Summary & Key Takeaways

• Running Tide is a startup that aims to combat climate change by using filter feeders as a means of carbon sequestration.

• The company focuses on oysters, scallops, clams, and kelp, which absorb carbon from the atmosphere and store it in the ocean floor.

• Their innovative approach involves deploying these organisms in their natural habitats and allowing them to grow and sink to the ocean bottom, effectively removing carbon from the air.