“CO₂ isn’t a pollutant” climate change deniers are missing the point, and hopefully this meme is simple enough for them to understand. I’d post it on Reddit too, but I’m trying to cut down on Reddit use.
Alt text:
Meme about Wreck-It Ralph (labeled “Fossil fuel emissions") overfeeding a pink rabbit (labeled “Plants") pancakes (labeled “C0₂")
Sure, if you let the plants grow at a pace that matches your co2 output.
(We’re not doing that)
Aren’t crops (which of course are plants) actually growing faster due to increased co2. Due to this they’re also not able to develop as much nutrients and vitamins etc
My understanding is that nutrition has got more to do with selective breeding, soil microbial ecosystems, and depletion of plant micronutrients - we focus on macronutrients (N-P-K) in fertilizer.
But I think it does have an impact on plant growth. Fossil records suggest larger plants, and people who grow “tomatoes” indoors sometimes pipe in CO2 I think. Works well if you brew beer near your tent.
Micronutrients are generally represented in foliar fertilizers or seed treatments, not granular fertilizers. So things like boron, copper, zinc, sulphur, manganese, etc are applied by spray, generally, since there is better uptake via leaves than roots, though much of it will hit the soil for later use.
We’ve even identified fields where we applied a certain amount of gold, which is used for better disease resistance.
OK, this is from an ag class 35-years ago, but I’m sure it holds up: Yes, pumping CO2 at a plant gets significant gains.