From the GWPF:
London 12 October: In an important new report published today by the Global Warming Policy Foundation, former IPCC delegate Dr Indur Goklany calls for a reassessment of carbon dioxide, which he says has many benefits for the natural world and for humankind.
Dr Goklany said: “Carbon dioxide fertilises plants, and emissions from fossil fuels have already had a hugely beneficial effect on crops, increasing yields by at least 10-15%. This has not only been good for humankind but for the natural world too, because an acre of land that is not used for crops is an acre of land that is left for nature”.
Pointing to estimates that the current value of the carbon dioxide fertilisation effect on global crop production is about $140 billion a year, he notes that this additional production has helped reduce hunger and advance human well-being.
But the benefits go much further than this. It is not only crops that benefit from this “carbon dioxide fertilisation effect”: almost without exception, the wild places of the Earth have become greener in recent decades, .largely as a direct result of carbon dioxide increases. In fact, it has been shown that carbon dioxide can increase plants’ water-use efficiency too, making them more resilient to drought, so that there is a double benefit in arid parts of the world.
And as Dr Goklany points out: “Unlike the claims of future global warming disasters these benefits are firmly established and are being felt now. Yet despite this the media overlook the good news and the public remain in the dark. My report should begin to restore a little balance.”
In a powerful foreword to the report, the world-renowned physicist Professor Freeman Dyson FRS endorses Goklany’s conclusions and provides a devastating analysis of why “a whole generation of scientific experts is blind to obvious facts”, arguing that “the thinking of politicians and scientists about controversial issues today is still tribal”.
The report is available here: benefits-of-co2 (PDF, 2.7mb)
Whenever it is a question of money or science, ….. money always wins.
Hi Anthony: The submission I was trying to send along is now available from my website and the graphs are accessible within the text. My site is http//www.bcclimate.com Kind regards, Rod Chilton.
Date: Mon, 12 Oct 2015 15:20:36 +0000 To: maberrd@hotmail.com
Interesting site – good essays. GK
“…a reassessment of carbon dioxide, which he says has many benefits for the natural world and for humankind.” I’m dumbfounded. How did such a heretical and blasphemous statement get past the AGW perimeter? In spite, of course, of the incontrovertibly obvious truth of it. Grade school biology meets the press!!!
Some gratifying responses above to my “cost-benefit” request!
“Atmospheric carbon dioxide is the elixir of life. It is the primary raw material out of which plants construct their tissues, which in turn are the materials out of which animals construct theirs. This knowledge is so well established, in fact, that we humans – and all the rest of the biosphere – are described in the most basic of terms as carbon-based life forms.
Nowadays, however, it seems that all we ever hear about atmospheric CO2 are the presumed negative consequences of its increasing concentration. Time and again, world governments, non-governmental organizations, international agencies, societal think tanks, and even respectable scientific organisations attempting to assess the potential consequences of this phenomenon, have spent multiple millions of dollars writing and promoting large reports about it. Yet, nearly all of these endeavors have failed miserably, by not evaluating, or even acknowledging, the manifold real and measurable benefits of the ongoing rise in the air’s CO2 content. As a result, the many important and positive impacts of atmospheric CO2 enrichment remain under appreciated and largely ignored in the debate over what to do, or not do, about anthropogenic CO2 emissions.”
(Extract from ‘The Many Benefits of Atmospheric CO2 Enrichment’ by ‘Center for the Study of Carbon Dioxide and Global Change)