The levels of CO2 in the atmosphere is increasing and have done so for many years. Shouldn’t this have a positive impact on plants etc.?
Maybe not nature including humans, but plants should thrive, right?
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Higher CO2 levels will result in faster plant growth if everything else is the same and there is enough of everything else a plane needs. CO2 is sometimes added to greenhouses for exactly this reason.
The problem is in nature nitrogen is often the limiting factor, not CO2. This means any effect is often very limited, In the case of agriculture we add nitrogen in the fertilized so it is not the limit.
But even in the case of agriculture increase in the atmosphere’s CO2 level will likly have a negative effect, it increases the temperature and is not the best for planes. There will also be more locations with drought and at the same time more large storms that cause flooding.
So because more CO2 in the atmosphere has other effects and it is often not the liming factor the result in in most locations is a net negative.
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