Trees do much more than remove carbon from the air. Carbon removal machine could potentially create c02 deficit regions, creating hostile environments for trees.
We can't possibly build a machine for every function a tree does.
> Carbon removal machine could potentially create c02 deficit regions, creating hostile environments for trees.
If we could remove so much CO2 from the air that it prevented plants from growing (even if the effect were highly localized, which is pretty much a certainty), then we might actually have a shot at being able to remove CO2 in a reasonable amount of time. So this definitely sounds like a good problem to have. Personally I think that's pretty unlikely though.
CO2 is pretty well-mixed and it takes a lot of energy to pull CO2 out so it is unlikely to be the primary method of address Climate change. Also at this point we are substantially above the pre-industrial level of CO2 so there’s essentially no chance of having CO2 poor regions.
I think the point GP was making was that just planting trees is not enough, not that we shouldn't be doing it. If all we do is plant trees, we're still running full bore up shit creek.
As I understand it the air carrying the CO₂ is constantly moving and will not create any deficit regions?
Besides, with the large over concentration of carbon dioxide we have at the moment I think increasing temperatures have a higher chance of creating hostile environments.
We can't possibly build a machine for every function a tree does.