[jstanley]

> Burning will return what the tree pulled out of the atmosphere, so it's already carbon neutral.

Couldn't you make the same argument about burning literally anything?

Doesn't burning oil just return carbon to the atmosphere that was already in the atmosphere at one point anyway?

[Pfhreak]

Coal and oil are adding carbon to the atmosphere that was not there within human timeframes. Yes, perhaps on a geologic scale it is neutral, but we generally think about carbon on a human scale.

[diamondlovesyou]

Oil is CO2 that was previously removed from the cycle. So carbon positive.