Those carbon eating trees

There's been a lot of attention given to Freeman Dyson's article in the New York Review of Books about global warming and its possible solutions.

As a writer, he does have an usually clear and succinct style, which makes the article a pleasure to read.

His discussion about the issue of discounting is a very helpful and useful contribution to debate, I think.

But the second major aspect of the review, in which he expresses confidence that the answer to excessive CO2 will be genetically engineered super trees, hardly seems something that we should make plans around. As some people have said, we're all still waiting for our rocketbelts, household robot servants and a cure for cancer and the common cold. The best predictions of practical applications of new-ish technology can be way off the mark.

Over at Real Climate there is criticism of his views both in regard to discounting and the genetically engineered solution. There are also hundreds of comments following the post arguing in each direction.

It's all interesting reading. Not a mention of ocean acidification though, although presumably Dyson would say that the trees will be the prompt answer to that too.