CO2 Removal

Here’s an article in The New Yorker on the removal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, a subject which, some argue, is 100% vital to the continuation of the human civilization.  As we all know, the concentration of CO2 hasn’t been this high (412 PPM) in the last 30 million years, when there was little ice at the poles and sea-levels were 60 feet higher than they are today.  Many scientists believe that humankind will be unable to reduce emissions in time to avoid catastrophe.

In the dozens of times I’ve written on the subject, I have pointed out that, since the air around us is only 0.04% CO2, and the other 99.96% is something else, largely nitrogen and oxygen, and thus this whole enterprise is impractical in the extreme.

Spoiler alert: the article doesn’t directly refute that, but it does appear that there is more to this than I realized.

It’s written by Elizabeth Kolbert, who won the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for “The Sixth Extinction,” and it’s extremely worthwhile.