4 ms·

Again, that is not true. Trees need CO2 for respiration. Basic biology, folks.

adrianN 6y ago
Basic biology should tell you that the only thing that counts for carbon capture is biomass added. Anything that the tree does that doesn't permanently add to its mass can't capture carbon permanently. Hence, once a tree stops growing, it stops capturing carbon. It still respirates because it does things that require energy, but any carbon it captures doing so is released fairly quickly again, e.g. when the leaves it produced in spring fall off and rot. Of course many trees keep growing a little even after they reach maturity, but the rate of growth is minuscule. A mature stable forest stores a large amount of carbon, but it hardly captures any more.
- pmiller2 6y ago
  Well, you know what? Plants reproduce, too. And, BTW, trees don't stop growing. They keep adding mass in their trunks. Literally the first google hit for "do trees stop growing": https://earthsky.org/earth/what-makes-a-tree-stop-growing https://earthsky.org/earth/what-makes-a-tree-stop-growing Edit: guess what? They even grow faster as they get older! https://www.npr.org/2014/01/16/262479807/old-trees-grow-faster-with-every-year https://www.npr.org/2014/01/16/262479807/old-trees-grow-fast...
  - adrianN 6y ago
    That is a different point. Anyway, the land we have is limited. You literally can't cover the planet in one big forest to capture the gigatons of carbon we have released. You have to do active forest management and store the carbon somewhere stable, for example as biochar.
    - pmiller2 6y ago
      Reducing the numbers of those pesky humans would help.
      - adrianN 6y ago
        You can't reduce the number of humans quickly enough without a genocide.
        pmiller2 6y ago
        Doesn't mean we still don't need to reduce numbers for long term sustainability.
      - imtringued 6y ago
        That's the one thing climate change is good at once it gets bad. I thought we wanted to avoid this?
        pmiller2 6y ago
        No. The one thing we want to avoid is making the Earth into an unlivable hellscape for those who remain alive.

Basic biology should tell you that the only thing that counts for carbon capture is biomass added. Anything that the tree does that doesn't permanently add to its mass can't capture carbon permanently. Hence, once a tree stops growing, it stops capturing carbon. It still respirates because it does things that require energy, but any carbon it captures doing so is released fairly quickly again, e.g. when the leaves it produced in spring fall off and rot. Of course many trees keep growing a little even after they reach maturity, but the rate of growth is minuscule. A mature stable forest stores a large amount of carbon, but it hardly captures any more.

pmiller2 6y ago
Well, you know what? Plants reproduce, too. And, BTW, trees don't stop growing. They keep adding mass in their trunks. Literally the first google hit for "do trees stop growing": https://earthsky.org/earth/what-makes-a-tree-stop-growing https://earthsky.org/earth/what-makes-a-tree-stop-growing Edit: guess what? They even grow faster as they get older! https://www.npr.org/2014/01/16/262479807/old-trees-grow-faster-with-every-year https://www.npr.org/2014/01/16/262479807/old-trees-grow-fast...
- adrianN 6y ago
  That is a different point. Anyway, the land we have is limited. You literally can't cover the planet in one big forest to capture the gigatons of carbon we have released. You have to do active forest management and store the carbon somewhere stable, for example as biochar.
  - pmiller2 6y ago
    Reducing the numbers of those pesky humans would help.
    - adrianN 6y ago
      You can't reduce the number of humans quickly enough without a genocide.
      - pmiller2 6y ago
        Doesn't mean we still don't need to reduce numbers for long term sustainability.
    - imtringued 6y ago
      That's the one thing climate change is good at once it gets bad. I thought we wanted to avoid this?
      - pmiller2 6y ago
        No. The one thing we want to avoid is making the Earth into an unlivable hellscape for those who remain alive.