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Re:Decrement carbon: Stripe's negative emissions commitment by est31 on Thursday August 15, 2019 @08:08PM (#20710949)
Forests have evolved into recycling ecosystems. When a tree dies naturally, it gets decomposed by various fungi and other organisms which, over time, release the stored CO2 back into the atmosphere. So the CO2 is released one way or another. What matters is that the living tree stores CO2 in its wood. Cutting and replanting might even increase the amount of stored CO2 because any wood that's used in the building industry is wood that doesn't decompose for decades to come. Wood you cut down to burn right thereafter probably reduces the storage capacity, but it's not zero due to the living trees!

Forests used to be real carbon sinks meaning that trees would just die without decomposing, because life hasn't figured out yet how to decompose it. This is how coal was formed around the globe.

Maybe some better technology to sequester CO2 emerges. But planting trees is a good approach for the start. If we want to slow down climate change, the CO2 sequestration industry will have to become huge within the next decades.

Re:Decrement carbon: Stripe's negative emissions commitment by cschwarm on Friday August 16, 2019 @10:04AM (#20715245)
Burying biochar (the superset of charcoal, basically) in old coal mines or other geological structures is a feasible way for long-term storage. The carbon content can be up to 90%, depending on the method. Biochar can be made from nearly all forms of biomass as long as it's dry enought.
Re:Decrement carbon: Stripe's negative emissions commitment by antisemiotic on Friday August 16, 2019 @10:15AM (#20715345)
Now I wonder how would old coal miners feel if you told them nowadays the coal is supposed to go in the ground.
Re:Decrement carbon: Stripe's negative emissions commitment by cschwarm on Friday August 16, 2019 @11:30AM (#20716162)
I think, they would be happy to keep their jobs and get paid for several decades to come. Also, the coal companies wouldn't have to write off their investments, since some of their technology could probably be reused.