Our Entire Society is Built on a Geological Fluke

If a tree falls into the forest and doesn't decompose, what happens to it?

Hosted by: Rose Bear Don't Walk (she/her)
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phrase=coal%20earth&adppopup=true

How 300 Million Year Old Forests Led To The Industrial Revolution

[eleoptera]

Please, please whenever talking about carbon sequestration and immissions reduction, mention the importance of the earth's peatlands! They only account for 3% of the earth's land surface, but for twice as much of our carbon sinks than all forests combined. Also this is a mechanism that already works and has no environmental disadventages. Protect and restore peatlands!

[andyjay]

With this title and that diagram of subduction and volcanism, I thought you were going to talk about how human evolution may have ultimately been triggered by the rise of the Isthmus of Panama which cut off the central connection between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, which caused even less rain to fall on eastern Africa (thanks to a rain shadow created by the mountains along the present-day DRC-Uganda border), which caused eastern Africa to turn from a forest into an open savanna, which compelled our ancestors to leave trees, which eventually caused them to become fully bipedal, which eventually lead them to develop hands with opposable thumbs, and so on.

Seriously, Sci Show or some other science channel should cover that at some point, if you or they haven't already.

[JetstreamGW]

"... there is a risk of triggering earthquakes through this process, which is not ideal."

But it _is_ totally metal.

[nicoletorcolini]

“Put that thing back where you found it or so helped me “ (movie reference)

[benjaminsteele]

Imagine being a Buddhist carbon atom thinking you'd finally escaped your cycle of samsara and attained nirvana for tens of millions of years only to be dredged up, lit on fire, and resubmitted to the trials of the biosphere.

[MotoMattMania]

Seeing pictures of the earth makes me gaslight myself into thinking I could walk around it in no time.

[frattman]

People have doubtlessly mentioned this in the past but I must say, Rose, and every other Sci Show presenter enunciates so perfectly. The entire crew should start a workshop for other YouTubers on how to be heard well over crappy low volume speakers (or by hard of hearing folks which probably includes me :p ).

[johngrade]

It’s almost like there was a flood that buried all those trees

[AlexArthur]

Rather than storing carbon in rocks, it seems to make a lot more sense to restore forests and wetlands so that carbon is captured in the soil. If that's not good enough, I think it would still be easier to bury large amounts of fast-growing plant matter underground or sink it in anoxic deep water to prevent decomposition and thus trap the carbon long term than to inject it into rocks.

[disgruntledtoons]

A minor nit: Trees are not mostly carbon. Carbon only constitutes about twenty to thirty percent of the weight of dry wood.

[HakunaMatata-osog]

Trees during the Carboniferous period reminds me of plastics today, in terms of an unexpected source of carbon that most organisms haven't evolved to break down yet, and so it collects in enormous piles. Obviously one is anthropogenic, one isn't, but I still find the comparison intriguing.

[hrlquin_est]

Love these tidbits of history ! Can you maybe do one on why some countries have more oil than others ? It's interesting to me how some countries in close proximity to the gulf states don't have as nearly as much oil on their offshore/onshore sites. And at what point is the wood considered coal and not petrified wood ?

[Dullahan]

As an aside to the idea of using depleted mining sites for carbon capture and storage since they're more "geologically stable", recent research has tended towards human activities causing new destabilisations of those areas. A USGS report recently reaffirmed that wastewater injection from fracking has destabilising effects on the surrounding rock and has some future potential impacts, and some of the proposed tech for CC would use similar technology.

[erlannderrantem]

There is something called Hydro Thermal Carbonization or HTC for short. You take anything from sewage sludge to agricultural scraps to wood to fabrics and put it in a big Pot and boil it with 200 degrees celsius and 20 bar of pressure and it will turn into solid, powdered coal. It’s a much better way to sequester it that way. And the cool thing, after it brought up to temperature it actually runs by it self and you can use it to heat up water.

[Makabert.Abylon]

Do you guys think this is the common way for it to go down throughout the universe? If a planet evolves life and plants, is it likely that plants would evolve before those who break it down will

[brittneyziegler]

🎶Put that thing back where it came from or so help meeee🎶

[cfuse]

Can we think twice before we start using fracking to store co2, please?

[carlcushmanhybels]

Part of the irony of how coal was formed/ abetted by low oxygen environments inside the swampy carbon piles was, I realized: the air above was super-rich in oxygen, highest % ever. From so much greenery giving off oxygen. E.g., enough oxygen rich air insects, who only have gas-permeable membrane circles on their sides to get oxygen passively -- got enough oxy to grow huge: crawly insects the length of Honda Civics & dragonflies w nearly 3 foot (near meter) length wingspans! Giant bugs can't grow in today's environments because there isn't enough oxy to do so.

[Merlincat]

I think we should discount the idea of Carbon Capture & Storage technology, at least for now, as it has been largely ineffective but gets used by fossil fuel companies for greenwashing propaganda.
I love this video about it: Honest Government Ad - Carbon Capture & Storage

[fatitigilo]

How do they determine how powerful an enzyme is? I mean what is even the scale here and what happens if it's over 9000??