Competing for Elon Musk's X Prize with Whale Poop 💩

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This week we meet Edwina Tanner and Jill Storey of Whale X, an Australian company competing for Elon Musk’s X Prize, a multi-year competition resulting in the awarding of $100M to the best carbon removal project. 

Whale X’s solution? Fertilize the ocean with synthetic whale poop. Before you write that off as silly, know that they are currently in 60th place out of 1,000 applicants. And frankly, who better than Elon Musk to support a seemingly outrageous idea.

Some topics covered in this podcast:

• Diminishing whale population and implications for ocean health
• The mechanics of Carbon Sequestration and why the ocean is optimal 
• Backstory on research from Ocean Nourishment Corporation, Whale X’s mother organization
• The role of whales in the carbon cycle and marine ecosystem in general
• How Whale X would be rolled out
• What they need to get it off the ground
• Elon Musk's X Prize

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