We Americans don't often look to our neighbors to the north for examples of liberty. Canada, under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, has clamped down on free speech, frozen the bank accounts of dissenters, and joined wholeheartedly in the climate panic-mongering that claims we must surrender our modern, energy-intensive lifestyle to keep the planet at some human-determined "ideal" temperature.
But in Alberta, the home of vast deposits of valuable oil sands, the provincial government is pushing back, and they are citing the fact that CO2, far from being a dangerous pollutant, is good for plants - and, since it's also good for agricultural yields, is good for people as well.
Geologist and executive director of the CO2 Coalition Gregory Wrightstone has the details.
In Europe, German politicians whose green fetish has produced economic decline face serious electoral challenges. And developing countries like India ignore “decarbonization” promises to aggressively develop coal mines and import more of the fuel to spur growth and eradicate poverty.
Less frequently reported is the story of carbon dioxide emissions greening the Earth and boosting crop production. Educating the public on the benefits of carbon dioxide is the mission of the CO2 Coalition, which I lead. We sponsor speakers and publish scientifically based materials for adults and children. Much of the information is about the role of CO2 as a beneficial greenhouse gas in moderating the extremes between daytime and nighttime temperatures and as a photosynthetic plant food.
“Fossil Fuels Are the Greenest Energy Sources” by Dr. Indur Goklany is an example of our work. Did you know that up to 50% of the globe has experienced an increase in vegetation and that 70% of the greening is attributed to plant fertilization by carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels? Or that nearly 200,000 square kilometers of the southern Sahara have been converted to a lush grassland from desert?
CO2, we should note (and have, repeatedly), is essential for plant life. Below about 150 parts per million (ppm) of atmospheric CO2 is not compatible with plant life; in other words, below that level, plants would die, and all animal life, including humans, would follow.
Current CO2 levels are at about 440 ppm, and yes, they are rising, due to several factors. This is leading to the effects that are noted in the work of Dr. Indur Goklany:
Based on satellite data, Zhu et al. (2016) found that from 1982–2009, 25–50% of global vegetated area had become greener while 4% had become browner. They attributed 70% of the greening to CO2 fertilization from emissions from fossil fuel combustion (which increases photosynthesis and water use efficiency, WUE, of most vegetation), 9% to nitrogen deposition (also from the use of fossil-fuel-derived fertilizers), 8% to climate change, and 4% to land use change. The first three, responsible cumulatively for 87% of the greening, are related to the use of fossil fuels.
What's more, the Earth's biomass - and all biomass serves as carbon reservoirs - has increased in that same range.
Song et al. (2018) found that, contrary to prevailing wisdom, global tree cover increased by 2.24 million km (+7.1%) from 1982–2016. A net loss in the tropics was outgained by increases in the extratropics. Global bare ground cover decreased by 1.16 million km2 (−3.1%), most notably in agricultural regions in Asia. 60% of all land use/cover changes were associated with direct human activities and 40% with indirect factors such as climate change, which indicates net reforestation and net de-desertification over the study period, partly attributed to climate change. Reforestation was probably enabled by increased productivity of agricultural lands substantially due to the use of fossil-fuel-derived fertilizers and pesticides, and increases in CO2 fertilization (indirectly from using fossil fuels). Together, they rendered land surplus to agricultural needs.
That's a lot to absorb, but in thumbnail: A slight increase in atmospheric CO2 is good for plants, good for human agriculture, and good for greening the Earth.
See Related: Who Knew? Atmospheric CO2, It Turns Out, Is Good for Plants.
At the UN COP29 Climate Conference: Yet Another Tiresome Proposed Sin Tax on Meat
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Now, that's not to say that there haven't been improvements in how we use fossil fuels. Modern automobiles, for example, are vastly more efficient than older models, using less fuel and producing fewer emissions. Natural gas-fired electrical plants produce less emissions than coal plants. If you're much older than 50, you can probably remember when smog and particulate pollution made the air in some of our major cities almost unbreathable, and that has improved a great deal as well.
Alberta's premier, Danielle Smith, is campaigning for the provinces' exploitation of the oil sands, as good for Alberta's economy and Canada's economy and good for plants.
Members of Alberta’s ruling United Conservative Party have voted overwhelmingly to abandon the province’s emissions reduction targets and recognize carbon dioxide as “a foundational nutrient for all life on earth.”
The motion was one of 35 policy resolutions up for debate Saturday on the second day of the UCP’s annual general meeting in Red Deer. Each resolution passed, most of them overwhelmingly.
The motion essentially denies that carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions caused by humans burning fossil fuels contribute to dangerous levels of global heating. Nonetheless, Premier Danielle Smith says she’s still committed to securing investment for carbon capture, utilization and storage technology to achieve the oil and gas industry’s pledge to achieve net zero by 2050.
That last sentence would seem to contradict the statements immediately above, and if one is aware of Aristotle's three laws of logic, one knows that contradictions don't exist in the discussion of facts. That last sentence, I would hazard a guess, is a political folderol to aid the passage of the policy resolution in question.
The climate scolds won't pipe down any time soon. But with every passing day, the scientific community is churning out more data, more analysis, and reaching more sensible, data-based results - like those presented here by Gregory Wrightstone and Dr. Indur Goklany. Their work is revealing; the earth is actually greening, and that is in no small part due to a mild increase in CO2 levels.
And no, there is still - still no good reason to reduce or eliminate our comfortable, energy-rich, modern technological lifestyle for the bogeyman under the bed that climate scolds keep warning us about.
