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Just one of the many problems of fundraisers like Team Trees: 1. Trees will eventually die and release their CO2 through rot or burning 2. Consequences of cha
by sevenf0ur 5y ago
Just one of the many problems of fundraisers like Team Trees:
1. Trees will eventually die and release their CO2 through rot or burning
2. Consequences of changing the ecosystem so rapidly
- wyager 5y agoIf you can increase arable land then other trees will grow there. I would prefer to create as much biomass as possible. Surely the net biomass stored in fossil fuels could be completely resuscitated, so to speak.
- PeterisP 5y agoThe usual way to increase arable land is by cutting down a forest. "Surely the net biomass stored in fossil fuels could be completely resuscitated, so to speak." - that's a strong no - fossil fuels have accumulated over millions of years, having all that carbon become biomass all at once would not be returning to something that existed earlier but something completely unprecedented, it would require many times more biomass than the Earth has now or has had at any particular moment of history.
- wyager 5y agoA quick google search suggests there are about 500 trillion pounds of oil left and about 1000 trillion pounds of living biomass. Assuming 5:1 mass:carbon ratio, it shouldn’t more than ~quadruple the total biomass. We could definitely fit that by turning the Sahara into a rainforest or something.
- danuker 5y ago> turning the Sahara into a rainforest or something I was surprised that Sahara has been green cyclically. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sahara#Desertification_and_prehistoric_climate https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sahara#Desertification_and_pre...