On Mon, 26 Jul 2010 01:20:48 -0500, Don Foreman
wrote:




The amount of CO2 in the atmosphere increases if the amount being
released exceeds the amount being removed. Even if we eliminated all
fossil fuel combustion, if we reduce the planet's ability to remove
CO2, as by replacing vegetation with concrete, then the CO2 emitted
from people would increase the amount in the atmosphere.

No, it wouldn't. It CAN'T. All of the CO2 emitted by people HAS TO be
sequestered first in plants, through photosynthesis, over the short term.

At risk of challenging a fervent belief and article of faith, it ain't
necessarily so. CO2 emitted by people goes into the atmosphere,
plants remove CO2 from the atmosphere for photosynthesis, both
processes are continuous. There is no cosmic guarantee of equity or
balance.

I misread your paragraph above. I agree, all of the CO2 emitted by
people must have been first sequestered in plants. Any plants not
eaten by us or other animals eventually rot and release their CO2 to
atmosphere anyway.

When we add more CO2 by burning fossil fuels without a corresponding
subtractive mechanism, atmospheric CO2 must necessarily increase.

Planting more vegetation would not accomplish this because the
vegetation will eventually decompose and re-release the CO2 it
entrained. We must either stop burning fossil fuels, or find a way to
deal with the excess CO2. That might involve export (to space) or
some form of long-term sequestration, like perhaps being converted to
seashells or concentrating it and burying it.