One of the most remarkable features of kelp is its growth environment and process. While it may look like a plant, it doesn’t really grow like one: kelp doesn’t require soil, watering, or even tending. Instead, it gets all the nutrients it needs directly from the water in which it grows. Kelp also has an exceptionally rapid growth rate; up to two feet per day under optimal conditions. It’s a carbon storage superhero, having been shown to sequester CO2 at a rate 20 times greater than terrestrial forests per acre. This low-maintenance nature, rapid growth, and exceptional CO2 sequestering ability, taken together, make it one of the most exciting and promising tools in the increasingly critical mission to drawdown CO2 from our atmosphere to prevent further warming of our planet.

Aside from its carbon sequestering abilities, kelp has a huge variety of uses. It’s a common ingredient in culinary traditions around the world, particularly in countries where it grows plentifully, like Japan. It’s a great source of iodine, fiber, and amino acids, and as an ingredient it’s pretty versatile: it can be dried to a delicate crispy texture, powdered and used in soup stocks and tea, pickled with a variety of flavors, or even eaten fresh in dishes like sashimi. Alginate, which is derived from kelp, is used as a thickening and binding agent in products from toothpaste to pudding. In Alaska, kelp has been a subsistence food for dAXunhyuu (Eyak) people and other coastal Native communities for generations. Native Alaskans are increasingly taking their water back and farming kelp for food sovereignty.