this is fucking insane https://twitter.com/nytclimate/status/1316427918428569602
the surface carbon cycle operates on a decadal to century scale. we've taken hydrocarbon out of the GEOLOGICAL carbon cycle, which operates at the scale of 10s - 100s of millions of years, and dumped it into the atmosphere. those rates are incommensurate with surface "storage"
a ton of carbon sluicing around the surface is FUNDAMENTALLY a different beast from a ton of carbon in the rock record. The ton of carbon at the surface is spread out and being mobilized at decadal rates. a ton of carbon from the earth is supposed to be moving at tectonic rates
even if you planted a bunch of fucking switchgrass, enough to account for a ton of Cretaceous carbon say, that carbon in the grass is going to be moving in and out of the surface cycle seasonally and yearly, as opposed to where it should be, in the fucking ground for 100 mil yrs
TREATING CARBON LIKE A FUNGABLE FUCKING COMMODITY IS A GODDAMN TRICK THEY ARE USING TO GET AWAY WITH NOT HAVING TO REDUCE EMISSIONS
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