NASA Flew Gas Detectors Above California, Found ‘Super Emitters’

Re:NASA Flew Gas Detectors Above California, Found ‘Super Em... by zdragnar on Friday November 08, 2019 @02:26PM (#21485787)

The CO2 from compost came from surface organic matter, which got it from the air in the first place. It is a net zero proposition (discounting potential transit costs which may or may not apply).

The rising CO2 levels in the atmosphere come from burning hydrocarbons which originate from below the earth's surface, where they were not part of the carbon cycle for millions of years. Burning faster than natural sequestration below the surface is reaponsible for the overall rise.

All else being equal, methane has a stronger greenhouse effect, but breaks down, unlike CO2 which is only sequestered by plants.

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Re:NASA Flew Gas Detectors Above California, Found ‘Super Em... by soperj on Friday November 08, 2019 @05:02PM (#21487329)

I get that it's net zero, but it's still releasing it back into the atmosphere. Burying the compostable material might actually be a way of sequestering carbon.

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Re:NASA Flew Gas Detectors Above California, Found ‘Super Em... by zdragnar on Tuesday November 12, 2019 @11:14PM (#21521118)

It is, technically, but with caveats. It has to be buried deeply enough that any gasses created by decomposition won't be released or escape on their own.

More worrisome is that, done at a scale that would matter to the atmosphere, it would have to be buried in containers that are impermeable to water forever, lest all of our underground aquifers become contaminated by bacteria and heavy metals that are naturally occurring in plants.

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