Genetically Altering Trees To Sequester More Carbon

An anonymous reader writes "Forests of genetically altered trees and other plants could sequester several billion tons of carbon from the atmosphere each year and so help ameliorate global warming, according to estimates published in the October issue of BioScience. The study, by researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Oak Ridge National Laboratory, outlines a variety of strategies (PDF) for augmenting the processes that plants use to sequester carbon dioxide from the air and convert it into long-lived forms of carbon, first in vegetation and ultimately in soil."

Comments

Why bother with GM,

[PinkyGigglebrain]

I know of a plant that can generate 4 times the cellulose per acre than trees.

It takes less than a year to mature rather than 10-20 years with trees.

It needs no fertilizer or insecticide, and is unaffected by increased UV.

It grows almost anywhere the climate is right, and that covers a big area.

Grow it, cut it down, give the nutrients a few weeks to leech back into the soil then haul away the cellulose and fill old mines with it, use it for paper, plastic feedstock, etc..

No GM needed.

The plant?

Hemp.

(cue old lame jokes about getting high, comments in general opposition, etc.)

_

Re:Subjective perspective exaggerated

[catchblue22]

What are you suggesting, that we revert to a medieval lifestyle?

I have already changed my lifestyle. I live close to where I work, so that I can walk or take the bus, and the trip only takes 15 minutes. I live in a smaller residence. I wear sweaters in the winter and lower the thermostat a bit. And I have reduced (though not eliminated) my meat consumption. I buy local fruit when possible, eating apples during the northern apple season, avoiding New Zealand or Chilean apples at all cost. I consume less overall, and it has not made my life any poorer. When you consume too much you become a slave to your stuff. It builds up. It weighs you down. You buy things, only to find that they don't make you any happier.

I don't think my life is anything close to medieval, and yet I probably produce way less than half the carbon dioxide of the average person. If you want to see what medieval looks like, I suggest you attend a Tea Party rally. Their abandonment of reason, their willful ignorance and self-delusion is an excellent model for Dark Age behavior.