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Re:China Completes Green Belt Around Taklamakan Desert by kjkjadksj on Sunday December 08, 2024 @01:28PM (#42359006)
Probably a lot easier to just cut down all the trees in the midwest and throw them into a deep ocean trench every few years than to go up against the activation energy you will face converting a desert environment into something presumably more wet and less hot. This isn’t Arrakis.
Re:China Completes Green Belt Around Taklamakan Desert by cassepipe on Sunday December 08, 2024 @01:47PM (#42359208)
Can you explain the tree-cutting rationale ? Wouldn't cutting all the trees have a masse effect that would lead to desertification ? i.e. can you pitch me your project :) ?
Re:China Completes Green Belt Around Taklamakan Desert by toast0 on Sunday December 08, 2024 @02:03PM (#42359398)
Have you seen a lot that's been clear cut right after and then after 5/10/20 years? They've got some near me where they cut adjacent lots every so often and they're on a cycle to do it again after whatever the interval is.

If you cut the whole thing down at once, yeah, maybe it won't come back. But if you do a reasonable section, it comes back alright.

So, current management practices are only cut down what you need to produce lumber and other wood products and wood adjacent stuff; plus the extras that get cut and don't make it to the mill whatever.

I think the proposal is to cut more, and drop them off into deep ocean where they won't decompose much. As trees grow, they turn environmental carbon dioxide (and other inputs) into wood, but an established forest is mostly steady state in carbon dioxide... cutting it down and depositing it into the ocean is a way to keep the existing carbon dioxide as wood and turn more carbon dioxide into new wood.

Re:China Completes Green Belt Around Taklamakan Desert by otikik on Sunday December 08, 2024 @02:56PM (#42359873)
> drop them off into deep ocean where they won't decompose muc

I’m sure that won’t come with any unintended consequences

Re:China Completes Green Belt Around Taklamakan Desert by toast0 on Sunday December 08, 2024 @03:51PM (#42360314)
Probably will spark a bubble in deep sea distressed wood salvage operations when that becomes feasible.

Logs that long ago got stuck on river bottoms on the way to mills are pretty valuable now if they're in good shape.

Re:China Completes Green Belt Around Taklamakan Desert by hirsin on Sunday December 08, 2024 @05:35PM (#42361334)
Is that just because they're old trees, which are stronger than the fast farmed ones we get today?
Re:China Completes Green Belt Around Taklamakan Desert by toast0 on Sunday December 08, 2024 @06:32PM (#42361688)
That's part of it, but also people enjoy the colors that developed in the wood while it was resting in the river.
Re:China Completes Green Belt Around Taklamakan Desert by kbelder on Sunday December 08, 2024 @03:09PM (#42359980)
It's where oil comes from that caused the CO2 that the trees are collecting; it's just closing the cycle.