By Vijay Jayaraj
Among the climatically correct, nothing is more scandalous than describing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions as beneficial. You can be blacklisted from public forums, professional networking sites, and even be removed from your tenured university position as an accomplished scientist.
Nonetheless, the truth is this: CO2 is fundamental to the photosynthetic process by which plants make food for themselves – and ultimately for us. Furthermore, the increase in atmospheric CO2 from industrial activity in the past century has helped vegetation over most of the planet to flourish. Also benefiting plants has been the relative warmth of recent decades.
Among the beneficiaries are fruit plants, whose sensitivity to cold is well established. In April 2007, an unseasonable freeze caused considerable low-temperature injury to small fruit plants, including grapes, strawberries, blueberries and blackberries, in 21 U.S. states. The financial repercussions for the agricultural sector were substantial. In North Carolina alone, farming losses were estimated to be $112 million, including $86 million in damages to fruit crops.
During the Little Ice Age (1300–1850), many of the fruit crops faced significant challenges from low temperatures, shorter growing seasons and extreme weather events like frosts, heavy rains and drought.
In Iceland and high alpine areas, agriculture nearly collapsed. In China’s Jiangxi Province, centuries-old orange cultivation was abandoned due to cold. In temperate zones, apple and pear trees struggled with erratic temperatures causing irregular blooming and lower yields.
Fast forward 175 years or so, and we have fruit crops thriving globally, thanks to elevated CO2 levels, relative warmth and a series of innovations in plant biotechnology. Regardless of whether certain politicians or news media believe it or not, plants love the warmer temperatures and increasing carbon dioxide of our season of plenty.
Rising temperatures extend growing seasons by delaying fall frosts and advancing spring thaws, allowing more plantings and reducing late-spring frost risks for orchard growers. The U.S. growing season has lengthened by over two weeks since the early 20th century.
This commentary was first published by AmericanGreatness on July 21, 2025.
Vijay Jayaraj is a Science and Research Associate at the CO₂ Coalition, Fairfax, Virginia. He holds an M.S. in environmental sciences from the University of East Anglia and a postgraduate degree in energy management from Robert Gordon University, both in the U.K., and a bachelor’s in engineering from Anna University, India.
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I remember my older aunts insisting that their house plants grew better because they talked to them (the plants I mean) every day.
Well of course they grew better. Someone was walking up to them and spewing CO2 onto them every day.
Possibly also due to elevated CO2 levels inside the house.
20,000 ppm per sentence.
Once again:
1. More rain is not a problem.
2. Warmer weather is not a problem.
3. More arable land is not a problem.
4. Longer growing seasons is not a problem.
5. CO2 greening of the earth is not a problem.
6. There isn’t any Climate Crisis.
You, You, you optimistic realist you…. 🙂
Burn, baby burn, create more CO2 to feed starving plants
The climate is not any different, even though, atmosphere CO2 increased from 280 ppm in 1850 to 420 ppm in 2025, 50% in 175 years. During that time, world surface temps increased by at most 1.5 C +/- 0.25 C, of which:
.
1) Urban heat islands account for about 65% (0.65 x 1.5 = 0.975 C), such as about 700 miles from north of Portland, Maine, to south of Norfolk, Virginia, forested in 1850, now covered with heat-absorbing human detritus, plus the waste heat of fuel burning. Japan, China, India, Europe, etc., have similar heat islands
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2025/05/16/live-at-1-p-m-eastern-shock-climate-report-urban-heat-islands-responsible-for-65-of-global-warming/
2) CO2 accounts for about 0.3 C, with the rest from
3) Long-term, inter-acting cycles, such as coming out of the Little Ice Age,
4) Earth surface volcanic activity, and other changes, such as from increased agriculture, deforestation, especially in the Tropics, etc.
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BTW, the 1850 surface temp measurements were only in a few locations and mostly inaccurate, +/- 0.5 C.
The 1979-to-present temp measurements (46 years) cover most of the earth surface and are more accurate, +/- 0.25 C, due to NASA satellites.
Any graphs should show accuracy bands.
The wiggles in below image are due to plants rotting late in the year, emitting CO2, plants growing early in the year, consuming CO2, mostly in the Northern Hemisphere. See URL
https://gml.noaa.gov/ccgg/about.html
CO2 is a life-giving Gas; We Are in a CO2 Famine
https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/we-are-in-a-co2-famine
By Willem Post
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Atmospheric CO2 ppm, human plus natural, it is near the lowest level in 600 million years. See image
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Net-zero by 2050 to-reduce CO2 is a super-expensive suicide pact, to 1) increase command/control by governments, and 2) enable the moneyed elites to become more powerful and richer, at the expense of all others, by using the foghorn of the government-subsidized/controlled Corporate Media to spread scare-mongering slogans and brainwash people, already for at least 40 years.
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Crops in open fields, with CO2 at 420 ppm, require fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides and much machinery to have high yields/acre.
Crops in greenhouses, with CO2 at 1200 ppm, require minimal chemicals, have 2 to 3 times higher yields/acre
https://www.masterresource.org/carbon-dioxide/increased-plant-productivity-the-first-key-benefit-of-atmospheric-co2-enrichment/
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CO2 in atmosphere was about 280 ppm during the Little Ice Age. CO2 was 296 ppm in 1900
Plants are on a starvation diet even with CO2 at 421 ppm, in 2023
The CO2 ppm difference is almost entirely due to increased use of fossil fuel, which have been providing about 80% of the world’s primary energy consumption for the past 50 years, even with building highly subsidized wind and solar systems.
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Dr. Sherwood Idso, US Water Conservation Laboratory, Phoenix, Arizona, shows Eldarica pine trees grown with an ambient CO2 at 385 ppm in the mid-1980s, and what happens when CO2 is increased to 535 ppm, 685 ppm, and 835 ppm over 10 years.
“BTW, the 1850 surface temp measurements were only in a few locations and mostly inaccurate, +/- 0.5 C. ”
This is basically the measurement uncertainty due to reading of the thermometer. It does not account for the inaccuracy of the thermometer itself. The total measurement uncertainty is far more likely to be in the units digit, at least +/- 1.0C.
“The 1979-to-present temp measurements (46 years) cover most of the earth surface and are more accurate, +/- 0.25 C, due to NASA satellites.”
No one knows what the actual measurement uncertainty of the satellites are. They have no way to measure path loss at the time of measurement. Without that there is no way the measurement uncertainty can be legitimately estimated. They may be able to accurately measure received radiance but what that radiance actually represents as a physical temperature can’t be determined without knowing the path loss incurred during transmission. My guess is that measurement uncertainty is, once again, in at least the units digit with a minimum of +/- 1.0C.
For both sets of measurements the measurement uncertainty is large enough to totally subsume the ability to identify the differences climate science is attempting to quantify. The data simply isn’t fit for purpose.
Go to the EPA website and post your message there. There is a section for posting comments and questions.
I can confirm this, as my garden has produced the best crop of Fruit and Veg since i started gardening over 60 years ago. We are told that the benefits of C02 also include that plants are more resistant to drought and disease. The worst summer I can remember was 1976 When my garden was a desert, No amount of water would help. But the MET office tell us that this summer so far was warmer than 1976, but they did downgrade the temperature of June 1976 and they are not making any allowance for Urban heat effect. so they could safely deduct 1 or 2 degrees.
The MET office may fool the younger generation, but the older generation have seen extremes of weather, and generations before even more extreme.
Yes 1976 was pretty much a wipeout gardening wise, but it wasn’t temperature related, it was lack of water.
1975 was a dry year, winter 1975/6 was very dry. There was no recharge of the ground moisture, so by the time the drought and heat of 1976 arrived, the ground was bone dry from the surface to feet down.
This year, there is moisture a few inches down and there have been periodic thundery breakdowns dumping an inch or more in one go.
Yes, you are right about that, this year we have had on average 25mm in each of the summer months. The early 1970s were also dry, which made the water shortage even worse. I have just checked the temperatures for 1975 and August was one of the warmest ever recorded.
Yes, you are right about that, this year we have had on average 25mm in each of the summer months. The early 1970s were also dry, which made the water shortage even worse. I have just checked the temperatures for 1975 and August was one of the warmest ever recorded.
That is the reason 16 y olds are being allowed to vote in the UK, because they are the most brainwashed and most easily swayed and have no sense of history
Yes, it’s a form of child abuse to encourage 16 year olds to make decisions that they will probably later regret for most of their adult lives.
Maybe regret. Depends on the degree of brainwashing.
Anything shameless Starmer will use to win an election
Yes. This year is the bumper crop of all time in my garden and orchard. Apples, blueberries, and blackberries (thornless) are so heavy laden they all need extra supports. We have 24 blueberry plants and I’ve been picking a gallon per day since June. I may have blueberry poisoning. I’m turning purple.
CO2 Is Good For You. Warmer Is Better. Deny the Hoax.
You should turn the blueberries into jam.
This is a bumper crop year for weeds!
Amazing how much faster they grow than just a few years ago.
The main heading picture is a shrubby ornamental tree, Arbutus unedo, and although commonly called the strawberry tree, and the fruits are not toxic, it is not grown commercially as a crop. Best left for the birds.
Commercial strawberries are small herbaceous plants (Fragaria).
I did not know that species carrier the moniker of strawberry tree.
Always pleased to learn something new.
Certain fruit trees also benefit from hard frosts in winter, particularly in eliminating certain pests. It’s no surprise to learn that apples originated in southern Kazakhstan, where winter lows can be -20C and lower and summer highs can be well above 30C. Several mild damp winters in a row can promote certain pests.
It is also indubitably the case that the mix of vegetables you grow is impacted by both temperature and rainfall. In NW, where I have been growing for over a decade, heat and dryness is not good for peas, nor runner beans (beans do not set if nights are consistently 15C or higher), whereas warm summers with a few heavy downpours are perfect for winter squash. I can happily grow certain tomatoes outdoors, whereas in southern Scotland, a greenhouse would be absolutely required, with summer maxes 4C cooler.
Given that food grows happily in Italy with its Mediterranean climate, it’s pretty clear that you can feed yourself with daily summer maxima from 16C to 36C, a range of 20C. Hotter than that, a layer of trees may be necessary to create a vegetable garden shaded from the very hottest weather.
All this talk about 1.5C difference is claptrap: 1.5C hotter, more growth is possible at higher latitudes. 1.5C colder, greater productivity will ensue at some lower latitudes, particularly if rainfall patterns change in certain desert regions. And cooler seas may lead to a greater abundance of fish, another source of food.
Nature adapts.
So should humans.
I wish that Japanese beetles had never discovered Colorado.
Have you had any confrontations with the Colorado potato beetles?
I live in Burnaby, BC and found a dead one at the west entrance of the high rise condo that I live in.
Free trade likely brought them to the US
Sshhh, don’t mention the benefits of a better climate for plants and animals.
I inadvertently fell into that trap a few months back but I think I got away with it, by cursing the increasing effort needed to cut back the green growth and cost of bigger trailers required to carry the burdensome harvests.
Authoritative sources assure me that what will thrive under climate change are mosquitos, viruses, birds which damage crops, invasive fungi, Western corn rootworm etc etc.
Basically, climate change will increase the habitable area available for bad animals and plants and reduce the habitable area available for nice animals and plants.
That’s science.
Or, as they are more widely known, Doomcryers.
Mosquitos and viruses, as I am sure you know, have been proven to not be affected by the trivial warming of the planet.
Pump up the volume!!!! Of CO2!
The Alarmists live in Opposite Land, where everything we know to be good and true is instead bad and false, and vice-versa. Either that, or they are just really, really stupid.
It’s the sun.
No, M’Lord, it’s the moon.
Yes, M’Lord.
Looking at a graph of world temperatures from ice cores, over the last 4000 years, the warming periods are on a cycle. They are reducing every few hundred years, Our modern warming is cooler than the Middle Age warming. The Middle Age warming was cooler than the Roman warming, and so on. The planet over the long term, is actually cooling.
As CO2 was at varying levels during that 4000 years, it would appear that is has no bearing at all on global temperatures.
The planet has been in an over all cooling trend since the end of the Holocene Optimum around 5000 years ago. This cooling trend has been interrupted by various warm periods approximately 1000 years apart. The Minoan warm period about 4000, the Egyptian warm period about 3000 years ago, the Roman warm period about 2000 years ago, the Medieval warm period about 1000 years ago and the Modern warm period which is happening now.
Each warm period has been cooler than the previous, and the cool periods between them have been cooler as well. The Holocene Optimum was at it’s max, some 3C warmer than it is today.
Do not contradict the climate prophets (profits?) with facts.
/sarc
Unable to refute that increased CO2 promotes plant growth, the positive has been turned into a negative. It’s causing more wildfires because vegetation is growing denser providing more fuel.
Yes, CO2 fertilization plus genetic modification are important, but another significant factor was the implementation of the Haber-Bosch process to create nitrogen rich fertilizers in vast quantities. Per USDA crop production figures, yields per acre have increase 254% since the 1950s. Now that’s impressive, and credit is due to all three factors.
The Haber-Bosh process produces NH3 by hydrogenation of nitrogen. The NH3 is oxidized to nitric acid, HNO3. The nitric acid is reacted sodium or potassium carbonates to produce nitrate fertilizers.
The H-B process made nitric acid readily available for the production of explosives such nitroglycerin and TNT.
Prior to this process, nitrates were obtained from droppings from bat caves and guano.
“Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea” was the story about
Captain Nemo campaign to disrupt the trade in guano which was the main sources of nitrates for weapons
Actually, Captain Nemo was targeting the Chile salt peter (KNO3) trade not guano.
“Rising temperatures extend growing seasons by delaying fall frosts and advancing spring thaws, allowing more plantings and reducing late-spring frost risks for orchard growers. The U.S. growing season has lengthened by over two weeks since the early 20th century.“
Not only does a slight rise in temperature extend the growing season, but increasing CO2 in the air increases the growth rate of plants, even if temperatures remain constant. If plants are growing faster (with increased CO2) and the growing season is longer (due to slightly warmer temperatures), this is doubly beneficial for the plants, and to animals and humans that eat them.
Also, higher CO2 levels in the air also make plants more drought-tolerant. With higher CO2 levels, the stomata in the leaves don’t need to open as wide to absorb enough CO2 for photosynthesis, meaning that the plants lose less water by transpiration in warm, sunny weather. This enables them to survive longer during a prolonged period without rain.
Very good Vijay.