Originally Posted by Rationalist

Do you know why there were such high levels of CO2 400m+ years ago? Ferns, the earliest land plants, were just forming during the Devonian. It took tens of millions of years just to get from ferns to forests, and then tens of millions more before the plants could release enough oxygen for there to be small forest reptiles. It wasn't until the Permian (299m years ago) that there was enough oxygen for the land animal population to explode. You can see that represented perfectly on the graph. You may notice that things start to level out more after that explosion.

The balance maintained between plant life and animal life (along with many other things) is responsible for the more recent stable state of the atmosphere. Sure, there are cyclical cooling and warming trends over the past few hundred thousand years, but you can see that the recent rise in CO2 and temperature does not fit in with those patterns.

Originally Posted by Rationalist

If I chop down a fully grown oak and then plant 3 oak saplings, the chopped down oak still rots, therefore the size of forests is not related to the release of CO2 via decay of dead plants.

Deforestation always results in decay, which releases CO2 into the atmosphere. When that deforestation is for the use of wood, the smaller branches and foliage is left to rot. When that deforestation is for learing land, the plant matter also rots.

Originally Posted by roadkill439342

Who would chop down a fully grown oak, leaving it to rot and not use the "harvested" wood for something.......and locking all that "carbon" in the process?

Originally Posted by Rationalist

The whole tree is not used in the production of wood goods. Have you ever seen a desk made out of oak leaves?

Originally Posted by ConservativeDemocrat

No but our oak dining room table had extra "leaves" to make it expand larger in the middle when needing space for family reunions...lol

Originally Posted by Rationalist

I love a good pun. Well played, sir!

Originally Posted by Rationalist

The whole tree is not used in the production of wood goods. Have you ever seen a desk made out of oak leaves?

Originally Posted by Rationalist

If I chop down a fully grown oak and then plant 3 oak saplings, the chopped down oak still rots, therefore the size of forests is not related to the release of CO2 via decay of dead plants.

Originally Posted by roadkill439342

YOUR WORDS........show some intellectual honesty.

Originally Posted by Rationalist

I'm having trouble simplifying what I said to the point you'll understand it. Some things are made of wood. My desk is made of wood. Most homes have wood used in their construction. When one cuts down a tree in order to use it's wood in making things, they can only use some parts of the tree. You can't build a desk or a home from leaves or smaller branches, which make up a lot of the total mass of a tree. So, when one cuts down a tree in order to utilize the wood, much of the tree is not utilized and it rots, which releases CO2.