Does anyone else believe that chopping down massive swaths of rainforest is the primary cause of global warming?
I mean, these are the planets largest carbon sinks and they are being decimated.
I mean, these are the planets largest carbon sinks and they are being decimated.
Speaking terms of carbon flows, the Amazon as a whole only absorbs two or three times the carbon emissions as the UK.
However it's approaching saturation anyway--it can't absorb an infinite amount of carbon.
In terms of absolute numbers, the total carbon locked up in the Amazon is definitely large, but I'd guess it's at least an order of magnitude less than human carbon emissions since the start of industrialization. Trying to figure out how to get the exact figure.
"By most accounts, deforestation in tropical rainforests adds more carbon dioxide to the atmosphere than the sum total of cars and trucks on the world’s roads. According to the World Carfree Network (WCN), cars and trucks account for about 14 percent of global carbon emissions, while most analysts attribute upwards of 15 percent to deforestation."
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/deforestation-and...
Rainforests store 250 tons carbon/hectare
The Amazon is 550,000,000 hectares in area
The Amazon has 137 gigatons of C total
Since 1850, humans have released around 1500 gigatons.
In particular, recently from 2000 to 2015, around 500 gigatons have been released by human activity.
Around 2700 gigatons remain in the ground.
All of these statements are just random numbers I found off the Internet, so take them with a gigaton of sodium.
The Amazon probably doesn't absorb any net amount of carbon, unless it's growing.
Let's demystify this: The carbon trapped in the Amazon is the plants. When plants consume CO₂, the C part becomes the plant. In a forest in equilibrium, growing plants do capture carbon from the air, but rotting dead plants release an equal amount.
So when you chop down a forest, and for the sake of example burn all the plants, you're releasing a large one-time amount of CO₂, but then the whole damage is done. And if you then leave the area alone, the forest will regenerate over the next 50-100 years, reabsorb the same amount of CO₂.
If you chop down the forest and build lasting structures from the wood, you're actually removing net CO₂!
Is it the one caused by dams?
Sand is one component of most concrete.
https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2017/feb/27/sand-mining-g...
"It's the industry, stupid" - William Jefferson Clinton 2017