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Black Sea Trees

Sink lots of them!
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Various people have proposed we grow lots of trees because they will pull carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere, and thus combat global warming. The main objection to that idea is that after the trees die, they generally rot, releasing CO2 back into the air. No net removal, therefore!

However! There are places where dead trees can be put, where they won't rot. The bottom of the Black Sea is one such place. There's practcally no oxygen down there, and archaeologists have been amazed over how well-preserved are old sunken sailing vessels.

Anyway, there's plenty of room down there for a VAST number of trees specially grown to absorb lots of CO2, and then cut down specifically to be sunk there. Of course a fair amount of rocks will also be needed, to make sure the wood sinks. But rocks are cheap.

Vernon, Sep 19 2010

under water saw http://www.underwat...ltd.com/sawnew.html
[zeno, Sep 20 2010]

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       Although sound, this is a temporary solution at best. If these trees are going to be sunk, then why not cut and treat the wood for building material?
DrWorm, Sep 19 2010
  

       There is a bit of an urban myth around saw mills here that some eastern religious thing has folks wanting a piece of yellow cedar in their homes, and that China is buying up unmilled cedar, wrapping it in oil cloth and sinking it in one of their deepest lakes in anticipation of market shortages.   

       I can't find evidence to back that up, but I thought you'd find it interesting.   

       Sounds like a recipe for a repeat of the biblical flood, as rising waters force the evacuation of Odessa, Sevastopol and about two dozen other cities if the Dardanelles Strait can't handle the increased outflow of water quickly enough to prevent it.
infidel, Sep 19 2010
  

       there's also peat bogs, or just plain deeply burying biomass   

       also, I remember something about some mineral that's under the ground in vast quantities in Yemen, that when exposed to the air, absorbs carbon dioxide and turns into another, stable mineral. And the idea is to unearth tons of this stuff and let it do its stuff and then bury it
EdwinBakery, Sep 20 2010
  

       Do you mean dawsonite and ankerite, Edwin? If so, most of those deposits appear already to be relatively saturated with carbon dioxide.
infidel, Sep 20 2010
  

       I dunno. I remember reading an article about it. I can't remember what the mineral was. I think I remember it beginning with the letter "z". And it wasn't a typical carbonate, like limestone or something.
EdwinBakery, Sep 20 2010
  

       zeolite? somethingolite?
MaxwellBuchanan, Sep 20 2010
  

       I believe the chinese sink that wood. Wood that is cut from flooded areas such as where a dam has been built is very sought after. See link.   

       Sinking a lot of trees for religious purposes like in this idea could well result in a large amount of fine furniture wood for the future (when Lord Monckton is declared holy).
zeno, Sep 20 2010
  

       Why not use the Black Sea itself to grow the plants? Eutrophy large areas of Black Sea with fertilizer. The algal bloom will sink when it dies. No need to schlep around trees.
bungston, Sep 20 2010
  


 

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