It's the Climate, stupid

[St. Phatty]

At this point, CO2 increase is predictable.

Partially aided by CO2 from the wildfires, which means it's entered a positive feedback loop type situation.

Going up 3 ppm per year, so any of us who live another 26 years, will experience plant growth, with 500 ppm CO2.

It should be SPECTACULAR.

One of the Achilles Heel of any conversation about Climate Change is, shortage of data.

I sense that the Blackberries are growing far more aggressively now than 10 years ago.

But I didn't stop to measure the growth rate then, when CO2 was roughly 395 ppm.

Try finding a paper about the effect of CO2 on blackberry growth.

effect of CO2 on blackberry growth - Google Search

 

[Three Berries]

If you get below 350ppm CO2 then plants start to die off and go extinct. This happened during the ice ages.

And the plants will tie up carbon as they grow. My biggest weed on the grounds is trees.

 

[St. Phatty]

If you get below 350ppm CO2 then plants start to die off and go extinct. This happened during the ice ages.

And the plants will tie up carbon as they grow. My biggest weed on the grounds is trees.

The Decomposition process is a slow motion version of Combustion.

The one time that I did a hot compost process in sort of a lab environment, 12 cubic yards of "yard waste", though formulated a specific way, was reduced to about 2 cubic yards in a space of about 4 weeks.

The 10 cubic yards that disappeared ? CO2. From the bacteria that causes the de-composition.

In other words, plant de-composition furnishes the CO2 that the next generation of plants needs.

The Earth wouldn't fall back down to 350 ppm unless there was an event, like a massive volcano eruption, that buried all the leaves etc. on the forest floor, in a layer of sediment, greatly slowing down the de-composition & the generation of CO2.

 

[Microbeman]

The Decomposition process is a slow motion version of Combustion.

The one time that I did a hot compost process in sort of a lab environment, 12 cubic yards of "yard waste", though formulated a specific way, was reduced to about 2 cubic yards in a space of about 4 weeks.

The 10 cubic yards that disappeared ? CO2. From the bacteria that causes the de-composition.

In other words, plant de-composition furnishes the CO2 that the next generation of plants needs.

The Earth wouldn't fall back down to 350 ppm unless there was an event, like a massive volcano eruption, that buried all the leaves etc. on the forest floor, in a layer of sediment, greatly slowing down the de-composition & the generation of CO2.

 

[Three Berries]

The Decomposition process is a slow motion version of Combustion.

The one time that I did a hot compost process in sort of a lab environment, 12 cubic yards of "yard waste", though formulated a specific way, was reduced to about 2 cubic yards in a space of about 4 weeks.

The 10 cubic yards that disappeared ? CO2. From the bacteria that causes the de-composition.

In other words, plant de-composition furnishes the CO2 that the next generation of plants needs.

The Earth wouldn't fall back down to 350 ppm unless there was an event, like a massive volcano eruption, that buried all the leaves etc. on the forest floor, in a layer of sediment, greatly slowing down the de-composition & the generation of CO2.

Massive volcano would flood the air with CO2 an other gasses. Ice Ages that stop plant growth is when the CO2 drops below 300 ppm.

You want to feed the world then 500 ppm would be great.

 

[St. Phatty]

Voluntary Carbon Markets Rocket in 2021, On Track to Break $1B for First TimePress Release - Ecosystem Marketplace

New report from Ecosystem Marketplace on voluntary carbon markets finds 2021 is on track for annual market value record of $1 Billion+ for the first time, as all-time market value hits $6.7 Billion. Based on growing global network of 172 EM Respondents (13% increase from 2020 of 152), with...

www.ecosystemmarketplace.com

You can bank about $4 ($4.73 ?) for every ton of carbon you sequester ?!.

Wonder what happens if you sequester it in tree form - and then it burns. Do you have to pay them back because you released CO2 ? What if someone else starts the fire ?

Also it's important to understand the details. If you plant an oak tree - trees that lose their leaves - maple trees etc.

Most of their leaves end up being converted to carbon dioxide, pretty purely.

I semi rapid compost some of the piles of leaves under some of my trees.

This involves watching them, watering them, raking them, watching the birds scratch for food in them.

1000+ pounds of leaves from one tree, wet weight, ends up basically disappearing into thin air.

I would not believe that if I had not seen the same Maple tree do it 5 years in a row.

It's still a slow motion process. By the end of the summer, where there used to be a big pile of leaves, there is a very small pile of leaves.

Of course if someone will pay me for growing an oak tree I won't turn it down.

If you want a challenge, compost blackberry stalks. THAT is a challenge.

I had one pile about 6 feet x 6 feet x 2 feet. Covered it with dirt, planted corn on it, watered it. the birds discovered it, 3 years later the blackberry stalks are gone. BUT they are converted to CO2, they were not buried.

 

[Three Berries]

All wood products decay back to nothing but the few minerals extracted from the soil. Mostly calcium. Some are naturally resistant to decay like cedar and redwoods.

I have some Dawn redwoods that look just like a native US swamp cypress but grows 5 times faster. Been 25 years and now getting seedlings I transplant. Squirrels love the seed cones. And the fern like leaves are deciduous, make a great mulch. Had a caster bean plant seed survive the winter and sprouted this summer in it.

 

[St. Phatty]

As it turns out, trees - and plants like Tobacco - and Cannabis - don't just fix Carbon.

They also fix Heavy Metals, e.g. Gold & Uranium.

If I had more $$ for playing around, I would set up something to extract heavy metals from wildfire smoke. And from dust.

It started about 10 years ago, I read some science article about Mercury being a significant component of dust in some parts of the world.

 

[armedoldhippy]

As it turns out, trees - and plants like Tobacco - and Cannabis - don't just fix Carbon.

They also fix Heavy Metals, e.g. Gold & Uranium.

If I had more $$ for playing around, I would set up something to extract heavy metals from wildfire smoke. And from dust.

It started about 10 years ago, I read some science article about Mercury being a significant component of dust in some parts of the world.

i have read about cannabis grown in industrially polluted areas not truly being safe to smoke, because of its ability to extract certain compounds from the soil. have not located any scientific research on subject however.

 

[Hempy McNoodle]

 

[St. Phatty]

i have read about cannabis grown in industrially polluted areas not truly being safe to smoke, because of its ability to extract certain compounds from the soil. have not located any scientific research on subject however.

Researching Cannabis may not get those US Gov. grant Dollar.

one article about heavy metal accumulation in Tobacco.

Toxic Metal Concentrations in Cigarettes Obtained from U.S. Smokers in 2009: Results from the International Tobacco Control (ITC) United States Survey Cohort

Smoking-related diseases can be attributed to the inhalation of many different toxins, including heavy metals, which have a host of detrimental health effects. The current study reports the levels of arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), chromium (Cr), nickel (Ni), ...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

 

[Three Berries]

They use to bring the Chicago Sanitary District sludge down here and contract with some farmers to spray it on some fields. They all quit due to the heavy metals in the slop. Stinks up the place too.

 

[armedoldhippy]

Researching Cannabis may not get those US Gov. grant Dollar.

you have to be looking for the "harm it causes" before you get govt grant money, or even the cannabis to do research on. this was the origin of "synthetic cannabis" to start with; researchers could not get cannabis to work with.

 

[Three Berries]

They grew hemp here before WWII all over. Then made it illegal. A few years ago Illinois legalized growing it again but still have not figured out how to regulate it so the industry is not supported.

The real fear is growers growing cannabis and bypassing state taxes and regulation.

 

[audiohi]

What colors will they use when the temperature is 41ºC/105ºF tomorrow?

Do you think they can find a more "scorched earth" color to get you upset?

 

[armedoldhippy]

What colors will they use when the temperature is 41ºC/105ºF tomorrow?

Do you think they can find a more "scorched earth" color to get you upset?

forecasts for 110 F in Little Rock. Europe looking at 107 F and up in places. 100+ expected over nearly all of Texas. historic south swell sends huge waves ashore in Hawaii, breaking over 2 story condos by the beach. flooding in many places in the world. Mother Nature aint happy. almost forgot! massive solar storm predicted to hit on the 19th according to scientists, aurora borealis expected to be visible much further south than normal. hope our power lines hold up. a huge one hit us many moons ago, and power lines caught on fire between the poles, telegraph lines burnt through, all kind of neato stuff... wonder if it will affect computers and shit ?

 

[St. Phatty]

New Mexico is having a "worst ever in history" wildfire year.

About 24 hours ago, there was a fire-fighting accident in New Mexico, where 1 fire-fighter was killed, & 3 cops.

Alaska is having a serious wildfire year too.

The helicopter crash kind of casts a pall, makes it hard to judge if 2022 is historic, or just contained some tragedy, without being historic.

 

[mexcurandero420]

Wildfire due climate change, my

 

[armedoldhippy]

i'm not saying it is "Jewish Space Lasers", but... i'm sure someone else will...

 

[VenerableHippie]

I don't understand why climate change and the existential threat it poses isn't a bigger issue. I feel humans are like frogs put in slowly boiling water, and don't realise what's happening until it's too late.
Big polluters have been very effective at calling climate change a hoax, but surely things have somewhat turned a corner here. At least I hope so. Yet nothing seems to change?

The economy won't matter much if the climate becomes such a threat that we can't feed ourselves. Eight billion people essentially burning things for energy, whilst at the same time cutting remaining forests and pouring plastic into the ocean isn't sustainable. Even if you don't believe in man induced climate change, most would realise this is a problem.

Seems to me ... in a nutshell ... the reason climate change is not front and centre is because of avoidance, denial, projection and anger that "I" won't get what "I" want (a fuel guzzling car, a home entertainment centre) because they won't be manufactured any more.

I haven't read thru the whole of this thread but I 'm sure it contains examples of members' avoidance of the issue, their denial of the issue because they just don't want to think in depth, and members projecting their ideas of a future which will just go on and on the same as it is now and always has been. That way they will always be able to get what they want, dream of, believe in.

Like yourself I have lived experience of climate change in the following way: the animals I used to see and hear in the bush around me are no longer present. And at a broader level the road kill we used to see any time we travelled is not there any more.

Last night at dinner I was talking to a well known cannabis seed supplier sometimes known as a kind of duck who noted that the seasons where he lives have changed also. That growers in his part of my state have to plant early to avoid the plant destroying rain. Where I live the rain arrived in quantity at the time plants usually ripen and are dried.

So the way I cope with this diminishing of the natural world is to enjoy what remains. I have no hope that mankind will give up its wants to repair the atmosphere. Only that there are enough of us left after calamity to continue our species.

Of course that thought is also futile because in the larger scheme of things we, the planet, are inconsequential.

I guess we just have to enjoy where we're at now.

Cheers!