Throughout the history of our planet, atmospheric CO2 was much, much higher, and it supported eras of lush rainforests, rapid plant growth and far greater biodiversity than what we see today. In fact, 525 million years ago, Earth's atmospheric CO2 levels were as high at 7,000 ppm -- and far from the planet "dying" as global warming hoax pushers try to claim, it was one of the most lush and biodiverse times in our planet's history.
As the following chart clearly shows, CO2 levels are at one of their lowest levels in the history of our planet:
Carbon dioxide is greening the planet
Global warming alarmists and hoaxers, of course, have warned that CO2 levels crossing the threshold of 400ppm will spell certain doom for the human race. What they don't mention is that rising CO2 levels actually set off a "global greening," complete with forests re-growing at an accelerated rate, gardens producing more food and arid regions seeing a restoration of green plants.In fact, a study just published in Geophysical Research Letters has documented that a 14% increase in CO2 levels in the atmosphere gave rise to a 5% - 10% increase in green foliage, with a total increase in plant "cover" of 11%. That study is entitled, CO2 fertilisation has increased maximum foliage cover across the globe's warm, arid environments.
That study refers to CO2 as a "fertilizer" that causes a "fertilization effect." As the study authors explain:
Our results confirm that the anticipated CO2 fertilization effect is occurring alongside ongoing anthropogenic perturbations to the carbon cycle and that the fertilisation effect is now a significant land surface process.
CO2, you see, isn't a "pollutant." It's a nutrient!
By the way, your body is 18% carbon and 65% oxygen. (I'm going to pre-empt some stupid Facebook trolls who will say, "Not true! Your body is 75% water!" by answering in advance that H2O is made of hydrogen and oxygen. Hydrogen has such a low atomic weight, however, that it doesn't contribute more than about 10% to your total body mass. Then again, trying to teach science to Facebook trolls is a lot like trying to teach pigs to write javascript.)
In total, you are 83% made of the same stuff as CO2, just in a different molecular arrangement. CO2 is, of course, constantly reformed and recycled throughout the planetary ecosystem. Ocean biological activity alone produces 90 billion tons of CO2 each year -- many multiples of the far smaller amount produced by human activity (about 6 billion tons). If CO2 alone caused global warming and global death, we'd all be dead by now. It turns out that CO2 actually helps fertilize the growth and restoration of plants and forests!
Ocean plants love carbon dioxide, too!
By the way, it's not just land plants that are starving for CO2. Marine plants also need more CO2, and most marine biology came into being in a time when CO2 levels were far higher than they are today.The higher CO2 levels are in the atmosphere, the more CO2 gets absorbed into ocean water, making it available to help marine plants thrive. This CO2, importantly, is also used to build coral reefs.
Wait a second! Haven't we all been told that CO2 is destroying coral reefs? I used to think so, too, because I hadn't scrutinized the science closely enough. But if you really dig into this issue, it turns out that coral reefs are largely being destroyed by toxic chemical runoff from human activity, not from CO2.
If you love plants and forests and gardens, you gotta love CO2
The bottom line in all this is that if you love plant life on planet Earth, you've gotta love carbon dioxide. CO2 is the key nutrient that's needed to bolster the rapid growth of nearly all plants, and right now Earth's atmosphere is in a state of carbon dioxide deficiency.That's why professional greenhouse owners actually pump CO2 into their greenhouses to increase plant production.
Rising CO2 levels are a huge benefit to plant life across the planet. Hare-brained plans to "sequester" CO2 will cause an artificial reduction in this crucial plant nutrient, resulting in the mass global die-off of plants and the thinning of forests. Carbon sequestration is, quite literally, plant starvation and an attack against Mother Nature.
So don't buy into the disinfo hawked by CO2 alarmists like Al Gore. They are pushing an utterly fictional story about how "CO2 will destroy the world" and end human civilization if we don't stop its rise. I welcome rising CO2 levels and being scientifically trained, I know that carbon dioxide only exists at less than 1/1000th of the atmosphere. In fact, it's currently at less than half of 1/1000th of the atmosphere. That's an extremely small amount of CO2 -- just 400ppm. And it's just barely enough to keep Earth's plants from dying en masse
