[Terrapreta] What does Carbon Sequestration really mean?

[lou gold]

Plants live finite lives.  Then they decompose.  Decomposers expire CO2.
Decomposition of a living tree occurs at a higher rate than a tree grows. Ergo
more outgo.  Get it?


OK, Sean, I'll bite and make a guess.

What if significant portions of plants did not decompose but were instead
converted into relatively inert forms of carbon? What if those inert forms
stimulated more growth (or similar growth with less fertilizer)? What if the
growth required less water? What if the non-charred portions of the plants
were used as substitutes for fossil fuels -- shifting from mining to growing
energy? What if we start to grow many things not grown before
(bio-computers, etc) and always charred a portion (previously called waste)
back into the earth? Isn't this a shift from detritus energy to living
energy?  And isn't this a  "new  paradigm"?
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