Global Warming Hurts Crops, Scientists Say
Posted: Wednesday, July 26th, 2006 by damnHippyTags: Agriculture, Climate Change, Science
Here's another potential benefit of global warming to cross off the list. Hey! CEI and Exxon, are you listening?
Well, to be fair this study is by no means definitive, but it warrants a closer look for sure. The debate stems around two natural processes. Plants love CO2 like we love Oxygen, so the more CO2 the healthier the plant. This has been found to be true in lab. The other natural process is that increased CO2 leads to higher temperatures and drier soil due to increased evaporation which stunts plant growth. As usual the world is kept in balance by two opposing forces.
This study did something other studies didn't, they took their lab outdoors and noticed that the positive benefits of increased CO2 concentrations were only half as powerful as they expected. This translates to a 20% reduction in soybean crop yields, which needless to say is not good for our food supply or our future availability of alternative fuels such as biodiesel.
"…they point out that extra CO-2 also hurts plants. They say plant growth is slowed by higher temperatures and lower soil moisture caused by faster evaporation." [VOA News]
Scientists Find Global Warming Hurts Crops » [VOA News]
