I got an interesting question the other day: "-Forestry as it is run today, stores atmospheric carbon by transforming CO2 into trees that eventually become wood in buildings or paper. The trees convert carbon dioxide(CO2) through several steps into cellulose molecules. Why do we then see an increasing amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere?"
Millions of years ago tons of atmospheric carbon dioxide were tied in vast forests. The amount of trees must have been so high that all of them did degrade after they died. The cellulose was instead, over millions of years, transformed into COAL, OIL AND GAS. When we burn coal, oil and gas carbon dioxide is again released. So in a sense, we bring back the carbon dioxide that once existed in the atmosphere at a speed that might cause serious environmental disturbances.
A well functioning forest industry partially prevents this development, but is today too small to convert all the excessive CO2. More about this in the next blog.
Johan
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