Socialized Health Care in the USA

[kandrathe]

Given that CO2 is a *gas* at ambient temperature and pressure, there is no way it can 'condense'. The only way in which CO2 can be removed from the atmosphere in any quantity is to break the carbon-oxygen connections, release the oxygen and tie the carbon into some solid phase (organic compound, graphite, diamond, whatever).

Yes. I should have clarified that better. I meant that there are efficient natural processes which sequester carbon readily as the levels available in the atmosphere increase (photosynthesis is more productive). What is an issue is that the dual process of burning carbon and also engaging in destruction (e.g. pollution, deforestation, etc.) of the natural systems for carbon sequestration is a death sentence for life on the planet.

Speaking about CO2; I'm wondering if the correlation of atmospheric CO2 to temperature (ice core analysis) is somewhat corollary than cause. The measured rise of CO2 has gone from 280 ppm (0.028%) to 390 ppm (0.039 %) over the last 250 years. It just seems to be a less important factor (~10% to 20%) in global climate change, although it might certainly be one of those "butterfly effect" things where the natural balance gets nudged because of people burning forests and fossils. There is a thermal inertia, which may take decades for todays climate to express itself in global temperature. I think also we should be concerned about fine particulate emissions (smoke, etc.) into the atmosphere that might also capture and radiate heat.

My personal opinion is that we can reverse much of this damage through solar desalinization, using natural processes (plants) for sewage treatment and reclaiming more arid land for plants. I believe in the "no footprints" approach to nature, so this would mean we need to build up carbon sequestration to a level equal to human output. "The terrestrial biosphere stores ~2060 GigaTons of carbon and transfers approximately 120 GigaTons of carbon per year between the atmosphere and the earth’s surface, whereas the current global annual emissions are about 6 GigaTons." (source) The US currently produces about 6,000 million metric tons of CO2 a year.

Back in the 1990's Rowntree & Nowak calculated that cities in the US have about 28% tree cover and that urban forestry would be able to sequester 12 tons of carbon per acre. A 25% increase (28% to 53%) in tree cover in US cities would sequester 750 million tons of carbon over the next 50 years. It seems like a pleasant partial solution, but it would mean a total of 1.5 billion trees need to be planted and is still less than our carbon output for a year.

The point being that one approach may be onerous, while thinking about land use for conservation, food, timber, and other persistent product uses (fibers, etc) will encapsulate sequestration while also enhancing our standard of living. The problem is that we burn more carbon bearing material than we use resulting in excess CO2, so we just need to find more ways to lock up carbon in our environment or in our products.