On: Ask HN: What can be done to prevent a climate catastrophe?

[konschubert]

I don't think that these services take carbon out of the air and turn it back into fossiles.

I guess that they mostly finance re-forestation. Then, you have to ask yourself:

Would the new forest happened anyways and they are just taking your money as a bonus? Is the new forest going to be permanent or will it be removed and re-forested again in 30 years?

[thedevindevops → konschubert]

>Would the new forest happened anyways and they are just taking your money as a bonus? Is the new forest going to be permanent or will it be removed and re-forested again in 30 years?

Perhaps, in decades/centuries a new forest might happen naturally. I should hope - if you're paying for it - that it not be permanent, carbon capture in trees happens fastest at the beginning of their lifecycle so by harvesting and re-foresting it functions as a renewable resource and has greatest efficacy as a carbon sink.

[konschubert → thedevindevops]

If you harvest the wood and burn it/let it rot then the carbon will be released back into the atmosphere.

Of course you might make furniture from the wood, but it will replace other furniture that then gets burned in place.

A forest only holds carbon, it doesn't continuously remove it.