Here are interesting data points for you... This one is current. It points to the dangers of massive reforestation and, in many ways, the hubris of thinking w

Here are interesting data points for you... This one is current. It points to the dangers of massive reforestation and, in many ways, the hubris of thinking we can actually control (reduce) atmospheric CO2 concentration in anything approaching a human time scale: https://archive.is/oBOzM https://archive.is/oBOzM This one is about reforestation: https://www.livescience.com/65880-planting-trees-fights-climate-change.html https://www.livescience.com/65880-planting-trees-fights-clim... As is often the case, researchers stop at the "Bingo!" moment and do not go further to analyze the process as I have delineated in my prior comment. So, one trillion trees minimum. OK. What does that look like as a process. What happens when a billion trees burn (not "if")? Etc. On the CO2 impact of forest fires: https://news.mongabay.com/2020/09/off-the-chart-co2-from-california-fires-dwarf-states-fossil-fuel-emissions/ https://news.mongabay.com/2020/09/off-the-chart-co2-from-cal... And then there's the world of coal seam fires: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coal-seam_fire https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coal-seam_fire I believe the longest one in the US has been burning continuously for 50 years: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centralia_mine_fire https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centralia_mine_fire These things exist world-wide: https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/52869/5-places-are-still-fire https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/52869/5-places-are-still... And it gets worse: https://gizmodo.com/the-worlds-oldest-underground-fire-has-been-burning-fo-1539049759 https://gizmodo.com/the-worlds-oldest-underground-fire-has-b... From the article: "At Germany's Brennender Berg—literally "Burning Mountain" in German—the coal has been on fire since 1688. " 1688. It is said that Chinese seam fires alone contribute over 1% of the total annual atmospheric CO2 generated. This points to the hubris and danger of thinking we can actually control something at a planetary scale. Can you imagine if we planted a trillion trees and accidentally created more fires? Think back to my "if we left earth" observation. I have looked at this from every angle, scientifically, not hand-wavy crap. I have a lot more than what can possibly be communicated in comments on HN. I should organize it and publish it on a website so it can be challenged by anyone who might care to do so. This is not a single variable problem. "Magic pixie dust -> Less CO2" is the usual type of "solution" we are given and nobody bothers to ask about the other hundred or thousand variables that remain without published analysis. And yet everyone gets behind the pixie dust. As you said. Not a simple problem at all. The sooner we start talking about this in real terms the better.