CO2 is not the enemy

Scientific studies should not be written in such a way that it becomes impossible for those with little interest in science to comprehend.

They should be written in a way to make what has been learned about the wonders of the universe known to a wider audience.  That includes findings about what CO2 is.

Contrary to what seems to have become popular belief, CO2 is not a villain unleashed on the world to bring about global warming under the guise of climate change, which is still used despite the lack of any recent warming.

It does not exist as a greenhouse gas and has no bearing on temperature.

CO2 is the equivalent of one of the good guys in nature.  When carbon-based life forms, like humans, exhale, CO2 is released into the air.  It then becomes plant food.  Plants take in CO2, and another good guy on the planet — oxygen — is released.

CO2 is one of the heaviest elements in the air we breathe.  It does not leap high into the air and stick around the upper atmosphere the way lighter elements do, which are real greenhouse gases, another hero for another time.  It stays close to the ground, within easy reach of plants.

If it were light enough to be a greenhouse gas, there would be far more than trace amounts there.  And would be difficult for the plants that need CO2.

Removal of a significant amount of CO2 would have no bearing on temperature.  It would have a negative impact on plants.  The greater the amounts of CO2 there are, the better the plants do.

Plants are important for producing oxygen.  By default, CO2 is important for plants, and all living creatures.

One of the claims used to vilify one of the good guys in nature is that there is more now than ever before.

The historical records tell us there was more during the time of the dinosaurs, which brought about a greener planet than exists today, and which produced far more oxygen.  That higher carbon and increased plant life that spread out even to Antarctica is the most likely explanation for the increased oxygen dinosaurs needed to survive in their sizes.

Do not allow the vilification of CO2 to go unchallenged.  It is a very important element needed on this planet.  It is one of the good guys in nature.

Ask those who believe that CO2 is evil why they believe that plant food is evil.  Or how one of the heaviest things in the air we breathe can possibly be a greenhouse gas, which is made up of lighter elements in the air.

The laws of physics do not get suspended for wrong beliefs.  CO2 can either be plant food, which it is, or a greenhouse gas.  Physics requires it to be one or the other.  It cannot be both.

Bob Ryan is a writer who has an MBA.  He is an American Christian Zionist who staunchly supports Israel's right to exist as a Jewish state.  He has been a weekly blogger at the Times of Israel since 2019.

Image: Pixabay, Pixabay License.

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