More on Coal andTrees

The situation we find ourselves in today you might call steady state. Some say that's not entirely true and that we are burning ourselves to death by consuming too much "fossil" fuel. I'm not disputing there opinion. Rather lets think about "In the beginning". Did trees come before Coal? How might that have worked? Imagine a time way back when and one tree appears. That tree needs Carbon Dioxide and Water to survive. It needs just the right amount. Its in an atmosphere that is mostly Oxygen and Nitrogen perhaps. I wonder what the ratios were? Most sources say the current atmosphere is 21% oxygen and 78% nitrogen. All the other gases make up the remaining 1%. It is estimated that the earth's atmosphere weighs 5.5 quadrillion tons. Less than .05% is carbon dioxide. About one third of the carbon dioxide is carbon. So maybe a bit less than .01% carbon. Rough numbers should work for this discussion. Or, .005 quadrillion tons of carbon. That's the amount we need to start in order to have one tree. Now consider the weight of the tree. How much carbon is consumed as the tree grows? The wood is largely carbon. Do you see where I am going with this? As the first tree and then other trees begin to consume the carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere the concentration in the atmosphere with drop unless there is some other source of carbon entering the atmosphere. Ah Ha! Animals breathe out carbon dioxide. They replace it. Where do they get the carbon? Oh yes, they eat trees. It is a cycle. So trees need animals to sprout and grow. And likewise, animals need trees to provide the oxygen . But wait, one tree and one cow... easy to explain. These two won't change the total amount of carbon required on earth. But, billions of people and even more trees represent lots of carbon. Where did the carbon come from? Two much in the air to start with might well upset the nature of the cycle. Maybe there was already enough carbon stored in the earth? Could it have been stored as coal in the beginning? If it came from the trees that died and decayed, where did the trees get the extra amount needed to grow and then die? The big bang is a mystery. The growth after that is an equally puzzling mystery. This one event might well be considered a miracle. Can you think of others? Other question are: Should  be be increasing, decreasing or holding steady the amount of carbon stored in the Earth? Is the overall process increasing, decreasing or holding steady the amount of carbon contained in the Earth and its atmosphere? We can ask the same questions about oxygen and hydrogen and their combined product water. These elements and there products are pretty important for sustaining life as we know it.