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[-] Blackmist@feddit.uk 51 points 8 months ago

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.

[-] Cris_Color@lemmy.world 14 points 8 months ago

Nobody makes grotesque amounts of money from that, so we're not allowed to do that one

[-] lemmy_nightmare@sh.itjust.works 12 points 8 months ago

I am weak in science. Is this sarcasm or does a method really exist? I am extremely curious. Please enlighten me.

[-] AnxiousOtter@lemmy.world 38 points 8 months ago

Trees. He's talking about trees.

[-] mojo_raisin@lemmy.world 8 points 8 months ago

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.

[-] lemmy_nightmare@sh.itjust.works 5 points 8 months ago

I feel extremely dumb now. I am gonna take my leave.

[-] Oderus@lemmy.world 6 points 8 months ago

You missed an opportunity to say 'gonna take my leaf' .. but alas

[-] Anticorp@lemmy.world 3 points 8 months ago

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.

[-] pastabatman@lemmy.world 10 points 8 months ago

The article addresses this:

Tree planting has been the most popular nature-based tactic so far — to little success. A growing body of research and investigations has found that offsetting emissions with forestry projects has largely failed. The trees often don’t survive long enough to make a meaningful dent in atmospheric CO2, for example, and then there’s double counting when more than one group claims the carbon credits.

[-] ILikeBoobies@lemmy.ca 6 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

Trees end up releasing a lot of carbon down the road

[-] Blackmist@feddit.uk 9 points 8 months ago

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.

[-] ILikeBoobies@lemmy.ca 4 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

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

[-] Blackmist@feddit.uk 3 points 8 months ago

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.

[-] Anticorp@lemmy.world 4 points 8 months ago

Redwoods live thousands of years. I'm cool with punting this problem 3000 years into the future.

[-] mojo_raisin@lemmy.world 4 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

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.

this post was submitted on 15 Apr 2024
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Discussion of climate, how it is changing, activism around that, the politics, and the energy systems change we need in order to stabilize things.

As a starting point, the burning of fossil fuels, and to a lesser extent deforestation and release of methane are responsible for the warming in recent decades: Graph of temperature as observed with significant warming, and simulated without added greenhouse gases and other anthropogentic changes, which shows no significant warming

How much each change to the atmosphere has warmed the world: IPCC AR6 Figure 2 - Thee bar charts: first chart: how much each gas has warmed the world.  About 1C of total warming.  Second chart:  about 1.5C of total warming from well-mixed greenhouse gases, offset by 0.4C of cooling from aerosols and negligible influence from changes to solar output, volcanoes, and internal variability.  Third chart: about 1.25C of warming from CO2, 0.5C from methane, and a bunch more in small quantities from other gases.  About 0.5C of cooling with large error bars from SO2.

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