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I’ve heard this argument before from climate change deniers. From a laypersons point of view I wonder why would you assume more CO2 makes trees grow more? More

I’ve heard this argument before from climate change deniers. From a laypersons point of view I wonder why would you assume more CO2 makes trees grow more? More oxygen doesn’t make humans grow more, in fact it becomes toxic.

minikites 8y ago
Most of the arguments put forth by climate change deniers are argued in bad faith.
- zzzzzzzza 8y ago
  then again the original comment is also in either bad faith or ignorance since he's comparing humans to plants when they have completely different metabolic systems.
pliny 8y ago
Trees are made of carbon, humans are not made of oxygen (humans are also made of carbon).
- philipkglass 8y ago
  By mass, trees contain more oxygen than carbon. So do humans. Water is 89% oxygen by mass. Cellulose is 49% oxygen by mass. Dry wood contains a bit more carbon than oxygen, but living trees do not.
umanwizard 8y ago
A better analogy is CO2 in plants vs. food in humans. And more food definitely makes humans grow more.
brink 8y ago
Apparently more oxygen does make bugs grow larger. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/10/101029132924.htm https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/10/101029132924.h...
ocschwar 8y ago
It's also so trivially easy to refute. If CO2 was a significant stimulant for plant growth, they'd be sucking it out of the air as fast as we were putting it out, and the whole issue would be moot.
- VBprogrammer 8y ago
  I'm not sure that's a good argument. It's entirely plausible that plants need CO2 to exist at a particular partial pressure to absorb it. In the same way people wouldn't drag the O2 level in a sealed room down to 0%.
  - LinuxBender 8y ago
    Humans can't bring the level near 0% because they would die long before that. Humans need between 19% and 24% O2. Below 19%, humans can't exert much energy without passing out. Above 24% increases damage from free radicals.
VBprogrammer 8y ago
Putting a lot of shit around the foot of a plant can make it grow faster and better. Not so much humans. I understand your point but your argument is terrible.
noselasd 8y ago
We "assume" that because we can demonstrate it to happen. Place a tree in an enclosure, increase the CO2 level but otherwise keep things the same as outside the enclosure. Trees within the enclosure grows faster than the ones outside the enclosure. This is not surprising, as we already know trees and plants consume CO2 to produce cellulose and other plant materials. This is heavily exploited in greenhouses which are CO2 enrichened to produce better yields - albeit used mostly for growing vegetables, not trees.
deleted 8y ago
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minikites 8y ago

Most of the arguments put forth by climate change deniers are argued in bad faith.

zzzzzzzza 8y ago
then again the original comment is also in either bad faith or ignorance since he's comparing humans to plants when they have completely different metabolic systems.

pliny 8y ago

Trees are made of carbon, humans are not made of oxygen (humans are also made of carbon).

philipkglass 8y ago
By mass, trees contain more oxygen than carbon. So do humans. Water is 89% oxygen by mass. Cellulose is 49% oxygen by mass. Dry wood contains a bit more carbon than oxygen, but living trees do not.

umanwizard 8y ago

A better analogy is CO2 in plants vs. food in humans. And more food definitely makes humans grow more.

brink 8y ago

Apparently more oxygen does make bugs grow larger. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/10/101029132924.htm https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/10/101029132924.h...

ocschwar 8y ago

It's also so trivially easy to refute. If CO2 was a significant stimulant for plant growth, they'd be sucking it out of the air as fast as we were putting it out, and the whole issue would be moot.

VBprogrammer 8y ago
I'm not sure that's a good argument. It's entirely plausible that plants need CO2 to exist at a particular partial pressure to absorb it. In the same way people wouldn't drag the O2 level in a sealed room down to 0%.
- LinuxBender 8y ago
  Humans can't bring the level near 0% because they would die long before that. Humans need between 19% and 24% O2. Below 19%, humans can't exert much energy without passing out. Above 24% increases damage from free radicals.

VBprogrammer 8y ago

Putting a lot of shit around the foot of a plant can make it grow faster and better. Not so much humans. I understand your point but your argument is terrible.

noselasd 8y ago

We "assume" that because we can demonstrate it to happen. Place a tree in an enclosure, increase the CO2 level but otherwise keep things the same as outside the enclosure. Trees within the enclosure grows faster than the ones outside the enclosure. This is not surprising, as we already know trees and plants consume CO2 to produce cellulose and other plant materials. This is heavily exploited in greenhouses which are CO2 enrichened to produce better yields - albeit used mostly for growing vegetables, not trees.

deleted 8y ago

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