pstarr wrote:equals or surpasses the carbon that was emitted when the petroleum and coal was burned. After all . . . coal and oil were also plants.
With all due respect, I follow the logic of your reasoning. That's not the problem. The math is your problem. The rate of CO2 input is many times more than the theoretical rate that plantlife can take it back up again. No amount of new plant growth will compensate, and by not compensating, temperatures go higher with all of the attendant impacts.
The best way to conceptualize things is to watch an old documentary called The Incredible Journey of Oil. If you want to prove you're a studious person, then take the time to watch it, as it ties AGW directly with peak-oil. It explains how climate and CO2 sequestration are inextricably linked. The climate at the time oil was formed was highly rich in CO2, just like what we have now. Vegetation essentially "terraformed" the CO2 out and converted it into oil deposits, rather serendipitously I might add, paving the way for land mammals (most oil is not dinosaurs but more ancient plant-life).
The big epiphany moment I had when watching this documentary is that they explained that by burning all the fossil fuels we are turning the clock BACK to the atmospheric conditions before complex life formed. And the net result of doing that will be to KILL OFF all that complex life and leaving us again with nothing but ancient algae and such. The planet ends up where it began, as a primordial soup.