Seawater chemistry and CO₂ removal: A new explainer video for public audiences exploring ocean-based CDR

Alicia Karspeck

We’re excited to share a short explainer video on Ocean Alkalinity Enhancement (OAE) and Direct Ocean Capture (DOC). Our aim with this video was to introduce lay audiences to a few essential concepts in ocean chemistry to help build a baseline level of fluency around marine carbon dioxide removal (mCDR) approaches.

These topics are complex, and no single video can cover everything. Instead, we set out to create a scientifically accurate starting point. We wanted something accessible enough to invite people into the conversation, while still grounded in the core chemistry that underpins OAE and DOC. To produce the video, we partnered with Real World Visuals, a UK-based production company with experience in climate and emissions-mitigation storytelling, but new to the nuances of ocean chemistry and mCDR. 

This project was developed in close collaboration with a team led by Dr. Sara Nawaz at the American University Institute for Carbon Removal Law and Policy. Our work together is part of an effort—funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation—to introduce communities to ocean-based CDR through a series of workshops. We are using locally-relevant scientific and policy narratives to ground the discussion and to surface how communities think about ocean-based CDR. We’re looking for what resonates, what creates uncertainty, and what matters most for their local context.

The explainer video is one of several assets developed through this collaboration. Alongside it, [C]Worthy is also running high-resolution ocean models to simulate the potential impacts of scaled mCDR deployments along the Pacific Northwest coast of the United States. Together, these materials aim to support informed public dialogue around emerging mCDR approaches.

This was our first attempt at producing an explainer video on these topics, and it proved more challenging than we expected. As scientists, we often had to actively work against some of our own training—setting aside formal terminology and habits of precision in favor of language that was clearer and more accessible. The American University team—social scientists with deep experience in community engagement—played an essential role in spotting concepts that could be misinterpreted or that needed more framing.

We also gained a new appreciation for how difficult it is to create animations that are both visually legible and scientifically accurate. Many things we take for granted in our daily work—basic behaviors of seawater, carbon chemistry, or physical processes—are surprisingly hard to convey with simple visuals. Learning how to tell that story in pictures was humbling, rewarding, and still a work in progress. 

We’re sharing this version of the video in that same spirit of learning and iteration. We see it as both a resource for the community and an opportunity to gather feedback that will help us improve the clarity and utility of future explainers.

Thank you for taking the time to engage with this work.

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