Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Imagine if we actually had a very serious problem from CO
2
emissions. These leaders would be doing
everyone a disservice by exaggerating the evidence and leading many disillusioned followers to conclude
that there was none.
If there was a true threat, they would win credibility by giving an honest, big-picture explanation to the
effect of: We thought we didn't have to worry about CO
2
emissions from fossil fuels, but now we think
there's strong evidence they could lead to something very dramatic and bad. Here's the evidence, and here
are our answers to the counterarguments. We understand that there are other considerations, such as the
crucial importance of fossil fuel energy in modern life, and we don't know enough about the big picture to
say what policy should be, but we do think there's a major risk and we want to have a public discussion
about it.
Thelackofthiskindofhonestexplanation andtheconspicuouslackofconcernaboutproposalstodrain
our energy suggest that they are not using human life as their standard of value. As does the fact that they
do not publicize a significant positive impact of CO
2
emissions: global greening.
THE FERTILIZER EFFECT AND GLOBAL GREENING
Climate scientist Craig Idso is an anomaly. The son of climate scientist Sherwood Idso, he followed in his
father's footsteps and did research on the most scientifically established—yet least discussed—aspect of
CO
2
's climate impact—the fertilizing effect of giving more CO
2
to plants.
Here's the situation from a plant perspective. Fossil fuels are superconcentrated ancient dead plants.
When we burn/oxidize them, we increase the amount of CO
2
, plant food, in the atmosphere. Thus, on top
of getting energy, we should get a lot more plant growth—including growth of the most important plants
to us, such as food crops.
Idso and others, conducting thousands of experiments in controlled conditions—where everything is
held constant except CO
2
—have convincingly demonstrated that more CO
2
means more plant growth.
43
Figure 4.6 documents what happens to the four plants, identical and all grown at the same time, except
with different levels of CO
2
.
Again, the results are dramatic. If we are “green” in the sense of liking plant life, rather than in the sense
of not affecting anything, shouldn't we be excited?
Figure 4.6: More CO
2
, More Plant Growth
