Fascinating evidence has been published that shows the recent increase in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has caused some cooling over large areas of the planet, and significant and widespread increases in vegetation. This plant boost, which has alleviated famine and hunger and helped send global food production soaring in recent decades, was found to have led to a global cooling trend of -0.018C a decade. There are significant margins of error, up and down, but this is said to have offset ~4.6% of global warming. However, in the case of India and China it has offset ~ 39.4% and ~19% respectively.
In a paper published last month, 11 Chinese climate scientists note that the Earth has experienced “widespread vegetation greening” since the 1980s due to CO2 fertilisation effects. Such greening could mitigate global warming “by triggering negative biochemical feedback to the climate system”. The darker green vegetation absorbs more of the sun’s heat, claim the scientists, while processes involving water evaporation or heat convection between the surface and the atmosphere also depress local temperatures.
Read more: Scientists Discover That Higher Carbon Dioxide Levels are Cooling Many Parts of the Planet
