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The CO2->O2 process of plants puts the carbon inside the plant. So plants can only reduce carbon in the atmosphere if they are cumulatively increasing in mass.

The CO2->O2 process of plants puts the carbon inside the plant. So plants can only reduce carbon in the atmosphere if they are cumulatively increasing in mass. So steady-state farming operations will not decrease carbon in the atmosphere. [Edit] The tree farm in isolation does not help with CO2 - but using wood in ways that preserve it (e.g. for furniture) does.

flyingfences 8y ago
Using the farmed wood instead of fossil fuels decreases the _net_ introduction of CO2 into the atmosphere.
- rwcarlsen 8y ago
  But again - that has to do with how somebody acquires energy or materials (burning wood vs oil or building wood vs plastic furniture) - not necessarily (directly) with having a tree farm. The tree farm is a small part of possible carbon sequestration avenues - and without all the pieces, it is just carbon neutral.
strainer 8y ago
The ecology of this issue seems more complicated than prevailing ideas about it, eg: Study finds fungi responsible for most carbon sequestration in northern forests. [1] "... they found that 47 percent of soil carbon found on large island samples came about due to fungi, as did a whopping 70 percent of carbon in small island soil samples. Thus far, the team is only able to guess why there are such differences in the soils, but theorize it's likely due to differences in decomposition rates. The amount of carbon stored in northern forests and how, is important because such trees cover approximately 11 percent of the Earth's surface and recent research has calculated that they hold approximately 16 percent of all worldwide sequestered carbon. " [1] https://phys.org/news/2013-03-fungi-responsible-carbon-sequestration-northern.html https://phys.org/news/2013-03-fungi-responsible-carbon-seque...
- wtallis 8y ago
  I don't see how measurements of "soil carbon" could be counting the carbon that's sequestered in lumber.
  - empath75 8y ago
    Trees eventually fall over.
  - strainer 8y ago
    "carbon forestry" as it is known doesn't just sequester carbon in the lumber, soil is a significant sink dominated by fungal processes. Soils are also very valuable to biodiversity and potentially commercially valuable ecosystem services.
freeone3000 8y ago
Right, so the tree absorbs the carbon as it grows, and it's released when it's burned. So having giant stockpiles of wood produced by a large-scale tree farm for the purpose of carbon sequestration sounds... well, that doesn't sound ridiculous, at least in minecraft terms. (I'm sure there's some economic reason we don't do this.)

flyingfences 8y ago

Using the farmed wood instead of fossil fuels decreases the _net_ introduction of CO2 into the atmosphere.

rwcarlsen 8y ago
But again - that has to do with how somebody acquires energy or materials (burning wood vs oil or building wood vs plastic furniture) - not necessarily (directly) with having a tree farm. The tree farm is a small part of possible carbon sequestration avenues - and without all the pieces, it is just carbon neutral.

strainer 8y ago

The ecology of this issue seems more complicated than prevailing ideas about it, eg: Study finds fungi responsible for most carbon sequestration in northern forests. [1] "... they found that 47 percent of soil carbon found on large island samples came about due to fungi, as did a whopping 70 percent of carbon in small island soil samples. Thus far, the team is only able to guess why there are such differences in the soils, but theorize it's likely due to differences in decomposition rates. The amount of carbon stored in northern forests and how, is important because such trees cover approximately 11 percent of the Earth's surface and recent research has calculated that they hold approximately 16 percent of all worldwide sequestered carbon. " [1] https://phys.org/news/2013-03-fungi-responsible-carbon-sequestration-northern.html https://phys.org/news/2013-03-fungi-responsible-carbon-seque...

wtallis 8y ago
I don't see how measurements of "soil carbon" could be counting the carbon that's sequestered in lumber.
- empath75 8y ago
  Trees eventually fall over.
- strainer 8y ago
  "carbon forestry" as it is known doesn't just sequester carbon in the lumber, soil is a significant sink dominated by fungal processes. Soils are also very valuable to biodiversity and potentially commercially valuable ecosystem services.

freeone3000 8y ago

Right, so the tree absorbs the carbon as it grows, and it's released when it's burned. So having giant stockpiles of wood produced by a large-scale tree farm for the purpose of carbon sequestration sounds... well, that doesn't sound ridiculous, at least in minecraft terms. (I'm sure there's some economic reason we don't do this.)