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From: Mike Jr on 3 Feb 2010 10:56
I was reading how tree growth has been reported to have accelerated.
http://sercblog.si.edu/?p=466

My first reaction was, "Hey that is a good thing. CO2 is plant food."

Then I recalled a paper by David Archibald where he discussed that
contemporary levels of CO2 are quite low compared to earlier periods
in geologic time. He is one diagram:
http://earthguide.ucsd.edu/virtualmuseum/images/CO2History.jpg

What happened to all that CO2? Plants, photosynthetic bacteria, etc.,
have been breaking down CO2 using photosynthesis for hundreds of
millions of years. A lot of that carbon got sequestered in petroleum,
natural gas, coal, not to mention limestone.

Plants need at least 180 ppm CO2 to carry on photosynthesis. We know
that plant growth responds dramatically to higher levels of
atmospheric carbon dioxide. Perhaps the greatest gift that the
developed counties can give to less developed nations is to release as
much CO2 as we can. It is like giving them free fertilizer.

--Mike Jr.
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