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Rather than sequestering all this carbon into wood and then trying to figure out what to do with the wood so that it doesn't decompose over time and release the CO2 back into the air, it'd make more sense to stop digging up lots of carbon from underground (where it's been stable for hundreds of millions of years in the form of coal and oil) and burning it to release the CO2 into the air.

We already have amazing reserves of CO2, and we're digging them up and releasing them by burning them! Trees are just a tiny band-aid on top of this massive harm we're self-inflicting.



Why can’t we do both ?


We can and should, but there's more impact to be had from ceasing to dig up the buried carbon and burning it. That's the equivalent of not punching holes in the hull, whereas planting trees is like bailing out the boat -- you'd rather it just didn't leak!




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