Using the Earth itself to combat climate change

Myriad forms of geoengineering — harnessing Earth’s natural systems for planet-wide change — are being investigated by scientists, trying to utilise ants and volcanic eruptions, writes Erin Biba

They’re as old as dinosaurs and an estimated 10 quadrillion of them are on the planet. They can lift up to 100 times their body weight and they can pull carbon — one of the greenhouse gases that’s warming the planet — out of the atmosphere.

This last trick is an unintentional consequence of their home-building skills: As they dig tunnels, they bore through anything that gets in the way, even minerals. And when they hit calcite, they break it down into calcium, which combines with carbon from the air and reforms as limestone.