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No, the theoretical point of carbon capture is to take the carbon we released from the ground back into it. Ultimately, there is simply too much CO2 in the atmo

No, the theoretical point of carbon capture is to take the carbon we released from the ground back into it. Ultimately, there is simply too much CO2 in the atmosphere at the moment. The long term goal has to be to permanently sequester it back into the ground - essentially reversing the last 100-200 years of burning fossil fuels, replacing everything we got from coal, oil, and gas with better alternatives so we can keep living a life that is at least as decent as today's. It is impossible for human civilization as we know it to thrive longer term if we keep the current amount of CO2 (and thus carbon) in any way that is circulating. Of course, capture can and should be the goal after we do the much much easier thing, which is not releasing even 1kg more of the already trapped carbon from the ground.

ffhhttt 3y ago
> It is impossible for human civilization as we know it to thrive longer term if we keep the current amount of CO2 (and thus carbon) in any way that is circulating. I’m not sure that true. Han civilizations “thrived” under much worse conditions than we can reasonably expect (by that I mean that technological/economical/social progress historically outweighed environmental factors and I don’t why this won’t be the case in the future)
- tsimionescu 3y ago
  Han civilization was vastly different from human civilization as we know it today, so it seems you're agreeing with me. I wasn't claiming humans would go extinct, just that there would be a massive upheaval that would entirely change civilization. Also, the Earth has never been as inhospitable to human life as it's expected to be since any known civilization started, so there's no historical precedent to compare to in terms of speed or effects of adaptation.
  - ffhhttt 3y ago
    > Han civilization Sorry. I’m not sure how did I manage to write that, it was supposed to be “civilizations have [thrived]”. > Earth has never been as inhospitable to human life as it's expected to be since any known civilization started, That debatable and very hard to quantify. Also it really depends on the region, e.g. Europe was probably quite worse than now during the “little ice age” or the 600s (coincidentally the Arabian peninsula seems to have thrived during that period due to higher humidity). Climate change was the reason many ancient civilizations collapsed, it seems to have been a pretty regular occurrence and we were only be to break out of that circle in the late middle ages/1500s.

ffhhttt 3y ago

> It is impossible for human civilization as we know it to thrive longer term if we keep the current amount of CO2 (and thus carbon) in any way that is circulating. I’m not sure that true. Han civilizations “thrived” under much worse conditions than we can reasonably expect (by that I mean that technological/economical/social progress historically outweighed environmental factors and I don’t why this won’t be the case in the future)

tsimionescu 3y ago
Han civilization was vastly different from human civilization as we know it today, so it seems you're agreeing with me. I wasn't claiming humans would go extinct, just that there would be a massive upheaval that would entirely change civilization. Also, the Earth has never been as inhospitable to human life as it's expected to be since any known civilization started, so there's no historical precedent to compare to in terms of speed or effects of adaptation.
- ffhhttt 3y ago
  > Han civilization Sorry. I’m not sure how did I manage to write that, it was supposed to be “civilizations have [thrived]”. > Earth has never been as inhospitable to human life as it's expected to be since any known civilization started, That debatable and very hard to quantify. Also it really depends on the region, e.g. Europe was probably quite worse than now during the “little ice age” or the 600s (coincidentally the Arabian peninsula seems to have thrived during that period due to higher humidity). Climate change was the reason many ancient civilizations collapsed, it seems to have been a pretty regular occurrence and we were only be to break out of that circle in the late middle ages/1500s.