Wetlands & Louisiana Coastal Master Plan
There currently exists a project, Louisiana Coastal Master Plan, which is designed to repair the Louisiana coastline over the next fifty years. It costs $1b/year for fifty years and will reduce erosion by 80%. This is achieved through rebuilding the Louisiana wetlands. Lower Louisiana is a massive wetland where the Mississippi River Delta reaches the Gulf of Mexico. Deltas protect coastlines from extreme weather erosion (e.g., hurricanes, tsunamis, local sea level rise) because it is difficult for water to move through them quickly.
Because of the soil sediment deposits in a delta (coming from miles north in the river), the Mississippi Delta would also be a fruitful fishing ground if restored to its original capacity.
These soil sediments are a feature of not only deltas, but also wetlands. If the billionaires pooled together their finances, they could pay to restore wetlands across the US. This would solve two problems:
Drying wetlands are a major source of methane. Methane is arguably the worst greenhouse gas. It traps more heat in our atmosphere than CO2. To make matters worse, as it degrades in our atmosphere, it becomes CO2, which lingers for several more decades. The primary sources of methane that are released into the atmosphere come from land use (wetlands, rice paddies, domestic animal grazing), fossil fuels, and landfill use. By restoring wetlands, the billionaires could effectively reduce a major source of methane pollution, which has the single greatest effect to reducing global temperatures. Furthermore, in restoring the Mississippi Delta and other wetlands, they could capitalize on all the great fishing and wildlife. Apple could create a fishing rod that needs to be replaced every two years and install a bunch of stores along the coast.
Wetlands and bogs have the capability to store carbon from the atmosphere in their soils and sediments. These areas hold more than 25% of all soil carbon, even though they only account for 3% of the Earth’s land area. Furthermore, globally “peatlands hold more than twice as much carbon as the world’s forests do” (Nature). This would also do wonders for Netflix because bodies don’t decompose in bogs, so, as murderers try to bury their victims in bogs, the bodies could be exhumed in mint condition and you’d have endless documentary crime dramas at your disposal.