U.S. to Fund a $1.2 Billion Effort to Vacuum Greenhouse Gases From the Sky

alphacyberranger@lemmy.world to World News@lemmy.world – 139 points –
U.S. to Fund a $1.2 Billion Effort to Vacuum Greenhouse Gases From the Sky
nytimes.com
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I would rather them just spend 1.2 billion planting trees. Just plant a shitload of trees, that's it.

Planting trees has a very minimal impact on the climate in the long term.

How efficient at sinking carbon are trees? As in, once the tree decomposes, the carbon gets largely released back into the air.

But yeah, "shitload of trees" + "some way of storing them at end of life that doesn't result in carbon back into the atmosphere" seems like a pretty solid plan.

Trees are some of the best carbon sinks there are. Far greater than any artificial ones we have so far. Trees last a long time, and when they die you can just plant more.

The real issue is that trees take a long time to get to their maximum sink potential, and require a LOT of water, nutrients, and excellent soil to get there.

Trees are great. Except they love to burn. Either as a fuel, or as part of the forest fire.

That's why I hate when the corporations do carbon offseting by planting trees.

Yeah what's the percentage of all trees burning up? That's kind of a dumb take.

I mean have you been reading the news lately about the multiple massive wildfires throughout the world?

Yes and with a 3rd of the Amazon chopped down. What do we have? Still a fuck ton of trees and need for a fuck ton more.

I don't want to sound like a fatalist, but there is actually no upper limit.