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Maybe we could genetically engineer a new kind of tree with undigestible wood, to replicate this era to deliberately sequester carbon.
by CharlesColeman 7y ago
Maybe we could genetically engineer a new kind of tree with undigestible wood, to replicate this era to deliberately sequester carbon.
- garmaine 7y agoPlastic.
- CharlesColeman 7y agoPlastic doesn't literally grow on trees...yet.
- inflatableDodo 7y ago"Styrene is named after storax balsam, the resin of Liquidambar trees of the Altingiaceae plant family." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Styrene https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Styrene
- garmaine 7y agoPlastics are typically made from oil, but they can also be manufactured from corn, or other plant matter.
- crimsonalucard 7y agoSo by using biodegradable packaging I am contributing to global warming? Oh the irony.
- marcosdumay 7y agoYes, a bit more than by using non-biodegradable ones.
- homonculus1 7y agoNo, biodegradable is carbon-neutral. Plastic itself is carbon-neutral although it's a byproduct of carbon-polluting oil. We'd have to make plastic out of atmospheric carbon for it to have any sequestering effect.
- NegativeLatency 7y agoOnly if you don’t count the supply chain
- losteric 7y ago* Biodegradable is just, ya know, degradable by organisms within a relatively short timeframe * The process of refining plastics and manufacturing products is generally NOT carbon-neutral
- crimsonalucard 7y agoIf biodegrade-able products are from carbon based life, and carbon based life contains carbon, and biology breaks down biodegrade-able products, wouldn't breaking down something that contains carbon be releasing carbon into the air? And wouldn't that be NOT carbon neutral.
- homonculus1 7y agoCarbon neutral means the carbon that gets released at the end was initially taken out of the atmosphere, not the ground. If you burn a piece of paper it's carbon neutral because the tree absorbed that carbon from the air. If you burn a piece of plastic you're adding carbon that used to be sequestered below the surface.
- parsnips 7y agoHow long must an item be buried before burning it loses its carbon neutrality?
- lopmotr 7y agoIf you first ask why CO2 in the atmosphere is a problem, then you'll find the answer. It's the same time scale at which the change in atmospheric CO2 is a problem. It's only a problem because it's changing rapidly. It would be OK if it happened slowly enough for species to adapt or at least for human activity to adapt without too much disruption to our daily lives. Ultimately, it's rapid disruption to our daily lives we don't want. We don't want to have to move somewhere else, have less spending power of our wages, get a different job, or change our eating habits. But if it happens gradually generation by generation, so we hardly notice it, then it'll be OK.
- lowdest 7y agoWood engineered to not rot naturally would also have a market, in addition to sequestering carbon.
- tigerlily 7y agoAccoya make and sell a wood product where the wood lignin has been chemically altered by means of acetylation to achieve this very property: https://www.accoya.com/ https://www.accoya.com/