Plants and carbon dioxide are friends, so why try to reduce it? | Business

Based on the process learned in school

One Facebook user shared with his reasoning on the interaction between rice growth and carbon dioxide (CO2).

“Rice growth depending on the amount of CO2 in the air.” More CO2 means greener earth.

Globalist lies and propaganda regarding global warming due to CO2 is the biggest global lie and deception of humanity.

The lower the amount of CO2 on our earth, the poorer all vegetation will be. Only complete d****s can believe such an absurd lie that CO2 is harmful to nature.

Screenshot from Facebook

Anyone who went to school and studied biology must know that there is a process in nature where organisms (chlorophyll-containing plants, green and purple bacteria) use the energy of the visible part of the spectrum of the Sun for the synthesis of compounds of high energy value. Photons in this part of the spectrum have the necessary amount of energy to excite the electrons of the chlorophyll molecule.

Carbohydrates are synthesized from carbon dioxide CO2 and water H2O, and oxygen O2 is released into the atmosphere (the language has not been corrected – ed.)”, the man explained.

According to him, by talking like this, the “globalists” aim to cause a global food shortage, to destroy all domestic animals and birds, inventing various diseases.

According to the man, this process is reversed because plants release oxygen during the photosynthesis process.

Plants and carbon dioxide are friends

The fact that plants love carbon dioxide is true. During photosynthesis, they absorb carbon dioxide and, with the help of water and sunlight, produce energy for themselves. In addition, plants existed on Earth in those times when the planet’s air contained more CO2 than it does now.

Skirmantas Lisauskas/BNS photo/Varniki educational trail

However, according to David Des Marais, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), it’s not like plants actually live better if there’s more carbon dioxide in the air.

“The short answer is that most plants will grow faster and bigger if there is more CO2 in the atmosphere, all other things being equal. However, plant growth is too complex to apply the universal law of “more CO2 is better”, – explained he.

Experiments in which scientists supplied extra carbon dioxide to plant growth chambers showed that they grew faster if other factors, such as the availability of soil nutrients and water, were maintained.

Žygimantos Gedvilas/BNS photo/Vegetable fields

Although plants need carbon dioxide to grow, their successful growth in an environment with very high CO2 is not guaranteed. Not all plants like extra carbon dioxide equally. And even for plants that like it, CO2 isn’t the only factor controlling growth. Plants need the right balance of water and nutrients in the soil for the extra carbon dioxide to stimulate growth.

Given current climate trends, this is where the problem lies. Climate change, caused by too much CO2 in the atmosphere, is intensifying droughts in certain areas of the Earth. As a result, water reserves for plants decrease and the risk of forest fires increases.

In general, according to experts, the negative properties of carbon dioxide far outweigh any benefits. Scientists agree that CO2, along with other greenhouse gases, traps heat in the atmosphere, causing the planet to warm.

The earth is getting greener, but…

The fact that the Earth is greener confirms research. Over the past four decades, the area of ​​green vegetation has increased significantly across the planet. Currently, there are more green spaces, not less. Moreover, this “greening” phenomenon is not only happening on land. Research shows that much of the oceans are also becoming greener.

123RF.com photo/Associate photo.

One explanation is air pollution. Some farmers inject carbon dioxide into greenhouses to speed up plant growth. But now plants are fertilized on a global scale. NASA data, humans have increased the amount of CO2 in the air by regarding 50 percent over the past two centuries. All this extra CO2 accelerates leaf growth, which is what these studies show.

Another explanation is people grows more plants.

in 2016 published in the scientific journal Nature Climate Change in the article it is said that over the last 35 years, due to the increasing amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, from a quarter to half of the Earth’s vegetation has become significantly greener. The number of leaves of plants and trees increased to the extent that their area was equal to two areas of the continental United States.

However, carbon dioxide saturation is not the only reason for increased plant growth. Nitrogen, changes in land cover and climate due to changes in global temperature, precipitation and sunlight also contribute to the greening effect.

Although increasing CO2 concentrations in the air can be beneficial for plants, it is also fundamental climate change the culprit. These gases, which trap heat in the Earth’s atmosphere, have been increasing since the beginning of the industrial age due to the burning of oil, gas, coal and wood. Climate change, in turn, causes global warming, raises sea levels, melts glaciers and sea ice, and causes more extreme weather events.

123RF.com photo/Associate photo.

Although CO2 fertilization can make some plants grow faster, studies have shown that their nutritional value can be reduced for a variety of reasons. And this is not a useful compromise, notes scientists. In the world, approximately 830 million people lack food, approximately 2 billion people are deficient in micronutrients.

The destruction of ecosystems can hide under this green color. As the researchers note, companies typically clear local forests to plant commercial crops. Landscaping by planting trees can also be problematic. Planted forests often consist of only one or two tree species and do not provide much biodiversity.

The growth of green agricultural land can also have serious consequences. Industrial farms not only change local ecosystems, but also require huge amounts of water, fertilizers and pesticides, which harm people and ecosystems.

Also, while plants absorb carbon dioxide, industrial farmland typically releases more carbon dioxide over time than it absorbs. Much of the CO2 absorbed by plants on the farm is released back into the environment following harvest.

Not all plants get the same increase in growth from additional carbon dioxide, depending on where in the world they are grown.

15min verdict: missing context. Carbon dioxide makes some plants grow faster, but this reduces their nutritional value. It also has other negative effects on the planet, such as climate change, which puts people and the Earth at risk.

The publication was prepared in 15 minutes in partnership with Metait aims to stop the spread of misleading news on the social network. More regarding the program and its rules – here.