It’s kind of interesting, but that idiom breaks down here in much the same way that nature does.

If you don’t have the stability to operate a reactor in 20 years, it makes no sense to build it now. It’s a waste of time, labor, money, resources, and emissions.

Likewise, (if your goal is for the tree to live and maybe even contribute to carbon capture) these days the more effective choice is often to not plant a tree. Your tree will not prevent dieback in progress, it will become dieback itself and release the additional soil carbon into the atmosphere.

Many forest are experiencing dieback due to climate change and studies have shown that it is more productive to let them turn into grassland. Preventing this transition can even lead to desertification where it wouldn’t have otherwise occurred. And grassland can sequester atmospheric carbon just like a healthy forest - but a desert cannot.