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Taking CO2 out of the air would be an absurdly expensive way to fight climate change
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this post was submitted on 15 Apr 2024
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If only there was a way to turn CO~2~ back into a solid form of carbon, release O~2~, and it could all be powered by the sun, for free.
What a world that would be.
Nobody makes grotesque amounts of money from that, so we're not allowed to do that one
I am weak in science. Is this sarcasm or does a method really exist? I am extremely curious. Please enlighten me.
Trees. He's talking about trees.
The problem is trees are short-term (even the long-lived ones) and only a part of the solution because they are a part of the carbon cycle. We need to remove carbon from the carbon cycle.
Another part of the solution is pyrolysis of industrial plant waste into biochar/charcoal. This stable form of carbon can last thousands of years underground and does not need any fancy technology or equipment.
I feel extremely dumb now. I am gonna take my leave.
You missed an opportunity to say 'gonna take my leaf' .. but alas
And grass, and bushes, and all things green that grow. The phytoplankton in the ocean actually process more CO2 than anything else on the planet. That's one reason why ocean warming is so concerning.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tree
😂🙏🏽
The article addresses this:
Trees end up releasing a lot of carbon down the road
We're releasing a lot of carbon right now.
The neat thing is when a tree dies and starts releasing it again, the trees around it absorb it, and here's the best part: They plant new trees all on their own.
Doesn’t help through forest fires
But the tree angle is mostly used by polluters to say they are carbon neutral because they planted some trees somewhere so they can continue polluting
Not saying you are one of them, just to not put so much stock in it when we should be aiming for elimination
I mean I'll agree 100% that carbon credits or whatever they're called now is bollocks.
But more trees can't hurt. And they're nicer than endless fields of corn.
Redwoods live thousands of years. I'm cool with punting this problem 3000 years into the future.
While trees are great and you have a point, we can't just put trees everywhere without consideration of native species. Much of the U.S. for example is prairie/grasslands that doesn't have a high tree density and the carbon is cycled much faster. Also of concern (not my concern but somebody's) is the property value of land used for trees instead of profit.
A acre of hemp regrown every year and a biochar retort could sequester far more carbon than an acre of forest over a given period and can be done on "wastelands". Biochar IMHO is the only carbon sequestration method that actually makes sense.