Beam me to Planet Gore !
Posted on 03/22/2009 1:38:04 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
A physicist from Colorado State University and his colleagues from the North American Carbon Program (NACP) have discerned and confirmed the unforeseen advantages of rising carbon dioxide levels. Through the processes of photosynthesis and respiration, scientists have been able to elucidate why plants are growing more rapidly than they are dying. The NACP is employing methods, such as the use of cell phone and aircraft towers to monitor and retrieve carbon data for their continuing study.
Too much carbon dioxide can be a bad thing, but sometimes it can have a positive effect on plants and trees. The more carbon emissions we dump into the air, the faster forests and plants grow.
This new revelation is the result of research done by the North American carbon program. Scott Denning, Ph.D., a physicist from Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colorado, explains the North American Carbon Program, "We are measuring CO2 in the atmosphere at dozens of places every hour around the United States and Canada."
About 100 cell phone and aircraft towers dotting the North American landscape are providing a network to measure CO2 in the atmosphere. Physicists tracking the data have found an unexpected benefit of rising carbon dioxide levels. Dr. Denning says it's unusual. "Stuff is growing faster than it's dying, which is weird," he says.
(Excerpt) Read more at sciencedaily.com ...
North American Anti-Carbon Program (NAACP) - has a ring to it.
Hummmmmmm Someone has taken plant physiology.
FTA - The more carbon emissions we dump into the air, the faster forests and plants grow.
Thanks for the news, I learned this in the third grade, fifty years ago!
“The more carbon emissions we dump into the air, the faster forests and plants grow.
This new revelation is the result of research done by the North American carbon program. Scott Denning, Ph.D.”
He actually managed to get a grant to find out the obvious???
“but sometimes it can have a positive effect on plants and trees”
lol. yeah. almost always, in fact.
That means I have to mow the lawn more often.
Plants take in CO2 and give of O. What a discovery?
Visiting a closed green house can be an refreshing experience..lots of O.
Who’d a thunk it?
A statement of the effing obvious. Plants like carbon dioxide. I am sure glad someone finally edumecated me on this subject. (do I really need a sarc tag?)
At least CO2 doesn’t smell as bad as the very dangerous methane
Hey Mr Scientist.
Carbon is the cornerstone of all life on the planet.
Maybe, just maybe, it is a good thing and nature has a plan for it.
And more than twenty years ago, manufacurers began producing CO2 generators for greenhouses, to make the plants grow faster and healthier. Growers PAY for extra CO2.
Methane has no odor, which is why your gas company has to mercaptans to the gas so you can smell it.
"Unexpected?" Unbelievable. These guys are scientists?
Different species of trees vary, but a typical tree is about half carbon. It's what holds the tree together.
Take a typical 1 ton (small) tree. It would contain about 1,000 pounds of carbon. To get 1,000 pounds of carbon, it had to take 3,667 pounds of CO2 out of the air, and release 2,667 pounds of O2 (oxygen gas).
It takes about 1,400 cubic feet of air to get 1 ounce of CO2, so it took all of the CO2 from about 80,000,000 cubic feet of air. Keep in mind, this is a small tree (the roots count, too).
Not surprisingly, it takes a long time for the tree to make contact with, and grab CO2 from, this much air. Actually, it has to make contact with much more air, because it can't extract all of the CO2 from the air it contacts.
If the air contains much more CO2, it is hardly surprising that the tree can contact the CO2 it needs much sooner, and grow faster.
Farmers in Israel have taken advantage of this for many years, by growing crops near the Dead Sea, which is about 1,400 feet below sea level. There is much more CO2 in the air there, which more than makes up for the extra effort required to grow plants in the harsh environment.
PURE methane has no odor, but a lot of times it isn’t pure and the stuff that is mixed with it stinks.
Great. Now we have to deal with ANOTHER pollutant. Plants.
So, it’s earth against the trees. Time to pick sides.
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