Higher carbon dioxide may give pines competitive edge

(PhysOrg.com) -- Pine trees grown for 12 years in air one-and-a-half times richer in carbon dioxide than today's levels produced twice as many seeds of at least as good a quality as those growing under normal conditions, a Duke University-led research team reported Monday (Aug. 3) at a national ecology conference.

Full article on PhysOrg.com
(Article dated August 3rd, 2009)

Not only pine trees, but also practically the vast majority of plants benefit in varying amounts and ways of increased carbon dioxide (CO2) levels. In this 12-years experiment, CO2 levels have been increased to 150% (1.5 times) of normal atmospheric levels, however various studies have showed that boosting in closed environments those levels to 4-5 times the normal values still yield significant plant growth benefits, although with diminishing returns. Note that in past geologic eras when life on earth "exploded", CO2 levels and ambient temperature were much higher than today.

Carbon dioxide is not as bad as usually depicted by politicians and misled eco-fundamentalists (or should I say terrorists?), after all.

Well yeah, I could have told you that!

CO2 serves the same purpose for plants as O2 does for us (basically). More CO2 means more plant air. (of course if we keep destroying forests there won't be much in the way of oxygen here in the not too distant future.) Anyone with an eighth grade education could tell you that more CO2 is good for plant life.

[edit on 7-8-2009 by DaMod]

reply to post by DaMod


You're right, we live basically because of CO2.
CO2 allows plants to growth, which allow food to be produced either directly (vegetables and fruits) or indirectly (meat which was possible because of plant food, and therefore of CO2).

The point of the news, though, is that with levels much higher than current atmospheric ones, plants will grow stronger, faster and more efficiently. CO2 levels aren't really a problem as many want us to believe. It's quite the opposite instead. Higher level of carbon dioxide would benefit not only plants, but the whole life on earth in many ways.

These are some of the real problems which many fail to see and to address:

- Deforestation (increased CO2 levels may help plants growth, but if we're removing them faster than they can reproduce, then it's clearly an unsustainable situation)
- Decrease of floral and faunal biodiversity and/or destruction of whole ecosystems directly induced by human activity
- Inefficient and "dirty" use/combustion of hydrocarbons (not how much it's done, but *how* it's done)
- Landfills (or better, inefficient use of resources)
- Industrial and chemical waste (the *real* pollutants)
- Radioactive nuclear waste (although to tell the truth, today's nuclear waste will be able to fuel future nuclear fission power plants)
- Mountaintop removal mining (one of the most devastating things man can do)
- etc....

[edit on 2009/8/7 by Shirakawa]