What You Thought You Knew About CO2

By now, most people have an opinion about global warming and climate change. Greenhouse gasses, CO2, and pollutants are being released by the general populous through the burning of fossil fuels and certain chemicals, into the atmosphere. Because of this, the general climate of the planet is changing, and not in a good way. But before you start worrying too much about reducing your carbon footprint, there’s a few things they don’t specify when talking about pollution.

Most living animals on the planet breathe oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide, where as trees and plants breathe CO2, and exhale oxygen, in a circle that benefits both parties. Generally, our atmosphere has 400ppm of CO2, but many greenhouse growers are using CO2 generators that crank the local environment up to 1500ppm. This ultra concentration of carbon dioxide sends the plants into a growth frenzy. Plants grown in a ultra-rich CO2 environment grow faster, are healthier, and produce larger amounts of larger fruit and flowers than a plant grown in a regular outside garden.  Why? Because CO2 itself is actually great for plants, and higher levels of CO2 accelerates and improves growth. If CO2 was truly a pollutant, it would kill the plants and the local environment would be unsustainable if using a CO2 generator.

The real issue is the burning of fossil fuels and other chemicals which do release CO2, but more importantly, releases several harmful, actual pollutants like sulfur and mercury. Because CO2 is also released at the time, it’s gotten lumped in with all the real harmful stuff.  Saving the planet is important, and we should do all we can to move away from fossil fuels and other dangerous chemicals, but it’s good to remember that CO2 is not one of those. CO2 is an important nutrient, and our planet needs it to maintain our global ecosystem.

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