this post was submitted on 18 Sep 2026
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Hello! I have a question!

I've been just skimming about Carbon Capture and Sequestration, and how scientists research naturally occurring CCS as it pertains to photosynthesis in plants.

I wanted to ask what sort of discoveries have been made in this area! It seems really interesting. I wonder what research is being done to maybe combat climate change through bio-engineering, like, really really carbon-hungry plants? Or maybe Reforestation efforts in order to make big forests that eat up carbon!

In addition, I'm wondering if we've seen any natural reaction to climate change in this area. Part of my (rudimentary) understanding of natural adaptation is that we will sometimes see things adapt to the circumstances that humans have caused, like the new fungus that eats radiation in Chernobyl, or new microbes that eat plastic that we've seen.

Have we seen any sort of natural reaction to increased carbon in the atmosphere? Have we seen any cool plants or little fellas evolve to munch carbon more effectively? Or maybe we've seen much faster growth or bigger plants on average because there's so much carbon for them?

I'm just kinda in an excited mood and wanted to ask about cool stuff. Please share all your cool stuff.

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[–] nlgranger@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago (1 children)

The general consensus outside tech bros and climate deniers is that CCS projects are bullshit. I'm sure you will find a bunch of researchers willing to say otherwise, it was just the same for cigarettes, alcohol, abestos, etc. I'm sure their labs are well funded too.

The change in CO2 concentration in the air is relatively small in spite of its effect on climate, so I doubt it can cause a change in itself (like doping photosynthesis). The change in temperatures and humidity seems to have negative effects overall (wildfires, droughts).

Planting trees to turn into biomass doesn't really work in practice because they burn from wildfires. Also, we need the land for agriculture because the yields are dropping. Moreover, the wood is burnt as an energy source the moment its price becomes competitive against oil, which is increasingly likely to happen in the future (especially if your country doesn't produce its oil).

Sorry if I sound like a downer, have a nice day nonetheless.

[–] Tidesphere@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week ago

Hey, truth matters even if it's unpleasant. I hope we do fix things as best we can.

As far as I know, the easiest ways are still:

  1. Plant some fast-growing plants
  2. Harvest them
  3. Bury the biomass or convert it to biochar and bury that

Repeat.

[–] Inucune@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I do a bio carbon capture project using algae. narcimalgae on YouTube if you want to check it out.

Using primitive and slow methods still better than one-off projects with exotic materials and huge power demands.

[–] Tidesphere@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week ago

That's super cool, I'll check that out tonight!