www.shiningscience.com/2024/05/will-sucking-carbon-from-air-ever.html
Will sucking carbon from air ever really help tackle climate change?
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This is why it has to be plants that are used to sequester carbon. Doesn't have to be trees though, phytoplankton grow faster and self-sequester by falling to the bottom of the ocean when they die.
Plants grow at a larger scale than could ever be achieved by human effort.
Right! And with a little fertilizer and other sound agricultural practices they can grow even more.
The only non-plant process that can compete might be enhanced weathering. Crushed granite or olivine spread on farmland or beaches can sequester carbon long term for a relatively modest energy investment.
How does that work? Never heard of it before
“Weathering” (aka chemically reacting with rocks to become part of the rock) is how CO2 naturally exits the atmosphere, but it is a slow process normally taking thousands of years.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enhanced_weathering tries to speed up the process.
Here’s a non-profit that’s doing it …
but adding crushed granite to farm fields might be more interesting because we already add stuff to farm fields so the incremental effort (and energy involved) is minimal …
a recent study showed that it can increase crop yields as well(!) so farmers might do it for that reason alone …
https://sustainability.illinois.edu/enhanced-weathering-a-climate-win-win/