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There aren’t enough trees to offset CO2 emissions – and there never will be
- joak 5y agoAs reading in Carbon Democracy from Timothy Mitchell: “The organic matter equivalent to all of the plant and animal life produced over the entire earth for four hundred years was required to produce the fossil fuels we burn today in a single year” Saying it otherwise: the natural ecosystems need 400 years to offset one year of fossil fuel emissions. When the ecosystems are still there and healthy...
- joak 5y agoOh yes, and this without taking in account the cement manufacturing, maybe 10-20% of CO2 emissions
- shoto_io 5y agoI get it. Still better than not planting any trees?
- joak 5y agoYes, I think that the point is that planting trees is fine but preserving actual forests is way better and that in any case we do have to stop all emissions. That the most efficient carbon capture is epsilon regarding the magnitude of the problem.
- Arnt 5y agoUhm. A company I know decided to switch to electric cars as soon as practical and buy emissions offsets until then. Buying that wasn't at all difficult. They haven't yet bought any electric cars (they need vans). This article seems to argue that if buying offsets and not replacing the cars, ever would be impossible if everyone tried to do it. But who cares? That's hardly a real option. Buying offsets appears doable for subset of possible buyers who seriously consider buying, as much as they want to and until they find the option they prefer.