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What difference does it make if it's "old" or "new" CO2?

What difference does it make if it's "old" or "new" CO2?

But.. if we reduce the "storage" for "new" CO2 eg by not re-growing the burnt forest then surely it does affect the atmospheric concentration?

This is a non-story. Any CO2 released from burning forests is 'new' CO2, fixed by plants from the atmosphere in recent times.

The CO2 from fossil fuels is 'old' CO2 that hasn't been in the atmosphere for millions of years.

Forest fires are also part of a 'natural cycle'.

Not that I'm sticking up for AGW... But we do need better arguments than this.

In fact, paradoxically, one cracking way to fix stacks of carbon would be to simply go and cut down the trees, so they decay and fix carbon, rather than burning and releasing it. New trees then grow to replace them and so on.

This is a non-story. Any CO2 released from burning forests is 'new' CO2, fixed by plants from the atmosphere in recent times.

Wildfires that scorched parts of Indonesia in 1997 spewed as much carbon into the atmosphere as the entire planet's biosphere removes from it in a year, shows new research published this week. The fires, which destroyed thousands of forest acres and left peat bogs smoldering for months, released as much as 2.6 billion metric tons of carbon -- mostly in the form of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO2) -- into the atmosphere.
A team of scientists led by Susan Page from the University of Leicester in the United Kingdom attempted to estimate the mount of carbon released by the 1997 fires, and their potential effects on global warming. In an article published in the November 7 issue of the journal "Nature," the researchers conclude that these fires were "a major contributor to the sharp increase in atmospheric CO2 concentrations detected in 1998."

Fire on Mt. Suharto, Borneo, March 1998
From 1997 to 1998, the growth rate of CO2 in the atmosphere nearly doubled, from an average of 3.2 gigatons per calendar year to 6.0 gigatonnes, the highest value on record

The Indonesian wildfires show that attempts to slow the rate of global warming will have to focus not only on reducing direct human caused carbon emissions from factories, power plants and vehicle tailpipes, but also on efforts to stem the unsustainable destruction of massive carbon stores such as those found in tropical forests and peat bogs.

If tropical peat forests continue to be destroyed by logging, development and fire, "there will be a continued release of carbon through decomposition of the exposed peat surfaces that, in turn, will place this large carbon store at further risk," write Page and her colleagues. "Tropical peatlands will make a significant contribution to global carbon emissions for some time to come unless major mitigation, restoration and rehabilitation programs are undertaken."

Even though the Dutch are considered to be "geener" than we are their emissions are 10% higher per head of population.

So if we cut down all the rainforests & dumped it all at sea, then let them grow again... we could all have 4x4s !!!

What you'd have is a raft!

But in principle I can't see what's wrong with the idea of managing forestry in order to "farm" CO2 absorption; if TPTB consider it to be of such crucial importance...

When wood rots, is the CO2 released? Part of it? How big a part?

Can't be that much, otherwise you would not get coal....