Carbon Dioxide Monsters!

In the article I read today, I read about diatoms and their history and how they can help the environment. Deborah Franklin(the author of the article) had a plastic container with shells of endless amounts of diatoms delivered to her from EaglePitcher Filtration and Minerals Inc. This place is where diatoms are mined from an ancient nearby lake bed. After studying them, she found out that the diatoms are used to filter wine and swimming pool water, polish teeth and silver, and serve as filler in concrete, plastics, and paper. Furthermore, organic gardeners sprinkle it around roses and tomatoes; instead of poisoning the pests,they use the sharp edges of the diatom shells' to cut the invaders to smithereens. However, there is one extremely beneficial task that the diatoms have managed to complete, which is disposing huge amounts of greenhouse gases. Scientists believe that they can do this by taking carbon dioxide and sinking it into the ocean's depths, letting the diatoms take care of the rest. I believe this could actually turn out badly because in the article, it says, "It could backfire, increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide levels by spurring the growth of the marine bacteria that feed on dead diatoms." In addition, marine biologist Kate Bidle, at the Rutgers marine institute and an expert on diatom ecology says, "I could see significant warming happening even faster than anyone's imagined." Additionally, Bidle and others say no one can predict how dumping iron into the ocean would affect marine life in the long run. All in all this was an extremely fascinating article on how diatoms can benefit and harm the earth's atmosphere.
I received my information from: The Smithsonian Magazine.
I also found my image from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Diatoms_through_the_microscope.jpg