{"id":299627,"date":"2024-02-03T18:42:02","date_gmt":"2024-02-03T17:42:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=299627"},"modified":"2024-02-03T18:42:05","modified_gmt":"2024-02-03T17:42:05","slug":"global-plant-growth-accelerates-thanks-to-higher-carbon-dioxide-levels-new-study-finds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=299627","title":{"rendered":"Global Plant Growth Accelerates Thanks to Higher Carbon Dioxide Levels, New Study Finds"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
GettyImages \/ Romolo Tavani<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From The Daily Sceptic<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

BY\u00a0CHRIS MORRISON<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The rate of global greening caused by recent increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide has accelerated during the last two decades, according to important new findings<\/a> recently published by a group of Chinese scientists. About 55% of global land mass revealed an \u201caccelerated rate\u201d of vegetation growth, compared with only 7.3% showing increased decline or \u2018browning\u2019. Global greening due to higher levels of CO2<\/sub> is an inconvenient fact that is often ignored in mainstream climate science. In fact there have even been attempts to suggest greening has slowed or reversed. Studies showing higher levels of global browning use sources that \u201cshould be used with caution\u201d, advise the authors of the new study.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is known that the planet has been greening since at least 1980, with some estimates suggesting increased levels as high as 14%. In a detailed paper<\/a> published in 2016 by 32 authors from eight countries, it was noted that there was a \u201cpersistent and widespread increase\u201d in growing-season greening over 25-50% of the global vegetated area. Now the Chinese scientists, including Eco-Climatologist Professor Tiexi Chen, state that \u201cglobal greening is an indisputable fact\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Satellites enable scientists to calculate a Leaf Area Index (LAI) and the four main datasets are plotted above. It was found that CO2<\/sub>\u00a0fertilisation dominated the LAI trends that are both rising and accelerating. By monitoring different parts of the globe, the authors found that the \u201cdrought trend\u201d only slowed global greening, \u201cbut was far from triggering browning\u201d. Climate alarmists, of course, observe drought everywhere \u2013 that is, when they are not pointing to biblical levels of flooding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The above map averages information from the four datasets and shows that greening accelerated from 2000 in 55.5% of the globe, among which acceleration in India and the European plains was said to be the most obvious (note dark blue colouring). Healthy growth can also be observed in the Amazon region, equatorial East Africa, southern coastal Australia and Ireland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It has long been know that higher levels of CO2 <\/sub>are good for plants with plenty of scientific evidence showing that they grow faster as a result of the boost. Dr. Roy Spencer, the former senior scientist at NASA, notes the beneficial effect<\/a> on plants, adding: \u201cThough CO2<\/sub> is necessary for life on Earth to exist, there is precious little of it in the Earth\u2019s atmosphere.\u201d Levels of CO2<\/sub> have been much higher than the present over the 600 million years that life has existed on Earth, and plants evolved when there was more of the gas in the atmosphere. Recent atmospheric increases, whether from natural or human causes, have contributed to soaring crop yields.<\/a> Better technology, fertilisers and land use have all played a part but higher CO2<\/sub> has contributed to an estimated annual 2.4-3.8% rise in maize, rice, soyabean and wheat \u2013 four staples that provide 64% of human caloric intake. Under the collectivist Net Zero project, there are attempts to stop CO2<\/sub> entering the atmosphere, bans on fertilisers, cuts of meat production and moves to \u2018rewild\u2019 agricultural land. Good luck feeding the world, might be the only charitable response to this insanity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CO2<\/sub> greening is largely shunned as a topic of polite conversation in the \u2018settled\u2019 climate mainstream because it helps support the notion that the recent small temperature bounce back from the Little Ice Age has been almost entirely beneficial. There is little evidence that natural disasters are getting worse, be they hurricanes, droughts, floods or wildfires. Exploiting hydrocarbon energy has enabled humans to build better protections against Mother Nature and deaths from natural disasters have plunged by over 95% in the last 100 years. Over the last 25 years, the only global warming outside retrospectively adjusted politicised datasets has occurred as a result of small spikes caused by strong natural El Ni\u00f1o<\/em> effects. Coral reef growth has soared of late, and Arctic sea ice appears to have started on the upward slope of a cyclical trend. It often seems that the only response of alarmists to all this good news is to point out the window and suggest the bad weather du jour<\/em> is a sign of imminent Armageddon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One Italian scientist recently estimated<\/a> that reducing CO2<\/sub> back to pre-industrial levels would lead to an 18% decline in the production of many basic global foodstuffs. The climate science site No Tricks Zone <\/em>highlighted<\/a> two further scientific studies that showed higher CO2 <\/sub>fertilisation effects were driving global greening and enhancing photosynthesis. Current levels of CO2<\/sub> in the atmosphere are around 420 parts per million (ppm), and a group of agri-scientists suggested there would be a 30-50% increase  in photosynthesis with CO2<\/sub> in a range from 451-720ppm. This would lead to a 25% increase in crop yields. The scientists looked in particular at barley and found an increase in yield of 54% if CO2<\/sub> rose to 700ppm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A great champion of the gas of life is Dr. Patrick Moore<\/a>, who helped found Greenpeace in the 1970s. He has long pointed to the gradual denudation of atmospheric CO2 <\/sub>as various life forms drew down the once plentiful supplies over 500 million years. He looks forward to the day when governments will meet to sign treaties promising to increase their carbon emissions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Treble private jets all round.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chris Morrison is the<\/em> Daily Sceptic\u2019s Environment Editor.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The rate of global greening caused by recent increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide has accelerated during the last two decades, according to\u00a0important new findings\u00a0recently published by a group of Chinese scientists. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":299634,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"The rate of global greening caused by recent increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide has accelerated during the last two decades, according to\u00a0important new findings\u00a0recently published by a group of Chinese scientists. ","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691819108,691819134,691818076,691822252],"class_list":{"0":"post-299627","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-carbon-dioxide","9":"tag-climate-alarmism","10":"tag-co2","11":"tag-global-greening","13":"fallback-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/0greennewdeal.jpg?fit=1500%2C1000&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1fWH","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":324091,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=324091","url_meta":{"origin":299627,"position":0},"title":"Climate Scientists Hail Boost to Global Plant Growth From Higher CO2","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"27\/04\/2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Both the quantity and nutritional value of plants is growing around the planet due to recent increases in carbon dioxide, claim the authors of an\u00a0important new science paper. 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