more green tech

[everything]

genetically modified trees to grow faster and store more carbon

[vadaga]

interesting. I do wonder though... so they grow faster, means they need more water and nutrients to grow or?

[everything]

Yeah not sure. To remove carbon, do they also need the extra water thereby affecting another part of the climate issues

[Steve James]

Hmm, I thought trees remove carbon dioxide, not carbon. Trees love co2 Luckily, they expel oxygen as waste and evaporate the water they used. If we continue to spew more and more c02, fewer trees will lead to other climate problems -one way or the other. So, imo, we can't go wrong by planting more green stuff (i.e., anything that performs photosynthesis).

Afa water use, the US isn't all forest. The east coast and northwest have the most. The middle of the country is/was prairie, not forests. The southwest is arid. It's hard to plant trees where there's little water. Especially since the Colorado is at a low level; the Great Salt Lake is drying out; Lake Mead is at its lowest level. On top of that, it's been over 100 degrees and there's been a drought.

Otoh, the Antarctic is at its warmest, and it's winter there. The melted water has to go somewhere. So, some parts of the world are having record floods. Others are having fires, releasing more co2.

[Ian C. Kuzushi]

Hi Steve. Referring to CO2 and other carbon compounds as "carbon" is standard nomenclature.

A carbon sink is anything that absorbs more carbon from the atmosphere than it releases – for example, plants, the ocean and soil. In contrast, a carbon source is anything that releases more carbon into the atmosphere than it absorbs – for example, the burning of fossil fuels or volcanic eruptions.

https://www.clientearth.org/latest/late ... rbon-sink/

[Steve James]

Yes, trees store the carbon -that they obtain from carbon dioxide- and release oxygen. Burning wood releases the stored carbon via oxidation. Anyway, I stand corrected on the nomenclature.

[everything]

"carbon sequestration" is what they say, I think.

this fried chicken rich guy changed his ranch to try to capture more water back into the aquifer. TL;DR is basically he panted more native grasses instead of the trees. their roots help the rain "recharge" the aquifer by having "paths" to the underground water.



Bamboo plants are actually grasses not trees, but they supposedly sequester more carbon and give off more O2 than trees. Don't know if they can "recharge" aquifers with limited rainwater. Supposedly they are drought tolerant when mature, so perhaps?

[Steve James]

Yeah, natural prairie grasses are better than agricultural grasses. Unfortunately, most of our true prairies are gone.


Bamboo is a grass, but it grows rapidly because it doesn't have a deep root system. That makes it great for lumber. It's also highly invasive and tends to take over. Otoh, if it holds more carbon, it releases more if it's burned.

We could probably figure it out, but it's not likely that a natural way would be accepted. Big farma and pharma would lose too much money.

[everything]

ah yeah the economics is another difficult layer... messing up the earth is a real "tragedy of the commons".

but there are also capitalistic interests and people setting up the incentives. so if I have a company with those drones planting trees or sell these trees, I guess I can sell "carbon credits". I'm looking at this superficially so not sure. I think these are all kind of band-aids, but in this case, sequestering carbon and releasing more O2 seems like quite a good band-aid if it adds up.

[Steve James]

One thing everyone can do is buy and spread wildflowers native to the region. Unfortunately, we also have a culture of lawns; so, native plants are often considered weeds.

[everything]

I'm so bad at growing the nice grass our culture should stop prizing so much. There are certain spots where I should def give up and plant something else (assuming I can deal with the aggressive HOA). hmm.....

[Steve James]

You can search "native plants you can plant in... where you are." If you're in an urban environment, it's even better.

But, you know "Paint paradise, and put up a parking lot"...

[everything]

yeah, will def try to add some native plants instead, especially in those spots the grass seems to hate / the weeds seem to love / i'm just wasting water and money and time on those spots. have started not watering my bamboo. i still drive my gas car and many other polluting things like that, but making a tiny o2 out/co2 in contribution to make up for the paving of paradise.

you're welcome, future humans, if you've survived and aren't living underground or only on boats like in kevin costner's waterworld.

[everything]

investments in carbon removal


starting now?

or corporate climate lies?

[aamc]

I got wrapped up in these city planning videos and one of the things that comes out of these videos, is how the way places are built has a impact on CO2 emissions.

Finally Kurzgesagt does a great job of presenting facts around climate change.