I'm sure it's been mentioned elsewhere here already by someone, but I've always thought that converting felled 'sequestration stock' to bio-char and making terra preta out of it would be win-win-win, as it could then be used to improve desertified land.

As much as CO2 emissions befear me, so too does increasingly poor topsoil, globally.

- ed

I'm not even sure we'd need to wait for trees to mature either - we just need work with whatever plant absorbs the most CO2. Perhaps algae, even?

This is definitely a thing: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bioenergy_with_carbon_capture_...

In theory it's energy positive: burning the crop can produce energy.

So I’m thinking the same. Soil + Terra preta(charcoal + food waste) is the best way. There needs to be some kind of inverse Bitcoin - something where we incentivize large number of people to claim areas of land and terra Preta it up. The reward is some kind of token that can be exchanged for value. We can maybe use satellite imagery to identify which land has been converted. Someone has to be forming a team on this for the prize.

Naturally (without human influence) a combination of biosphere (decades) and geosphere (millenia) would keep CO₂ levels in check.

We (humans) have accelerated emissions (by burning, thus reversing, geosphere capture via oil) and destroyed the biosphere through deforestation. This has also been accelerated as raising temperatures thaw permafrost & destroy ocean life (among others).

Anything we can do to reverse this is beneficial.

Has anyone checked if earths total biomass has increased as co2 increases?

There is more greenery/forestation, and likely more biomass downstream, but I would expect other effects to cancel those effects beyond certain thresholds. For example, even though plankton and algae might benefit from additional carbon and heat, acidification of the ocean might lead to a net decrease in both.

I guess it would be impossible to actually measure.

Heat could also increase biomass since there would be a longer growing season and higher latitudes opening up.

But like you say, it’s a trade off so hard to predict.

We’ve pumped a lot of nitrogen into the biosphere. I wonder how much that’s increased the total biomass.

That assumes a lot about the world in 50-100 years when trees planned today are full grown!