I wrote:
And, the only way to stop it, is to stop pulling carbon from the ground.
It doesn't help to slow down the process, or reduce greenhouse gas
emissions from cars.
Whoa there. That does not follow. If you slow down the process by reducing
emissions now, you buy time.
I should say, "If you slow down the rate of increase . . ." As Craig said,
you cannot actually reverse the process by slowing or stopping emissions.
You only prevent acceleration.
Of course if some natural process such as the melting of Siberia kicks in
and begins adding CO2 at rates far higher than human activity, then our
goose is cooked. Even massive space-based Mylar sun shields may not be enough.
Continental scale reforestation projects would reduce CO2 for about 30
years, as I said. Such projects would be immensely beneficial in other
ways, so we should do them even if it turns out global warming is not
caused by CO2. After large areas of the planet are reforested we will have
to turn to other methods if we want to continue removing CO2.
All in all, cleaning up the mess made by the 20th century will probably
occupy us for several generations.
- Jed
