Global greening has become so apparent that climate alarmists are beginning to argue that we need to “save the deserts”! – Watt?

From the Daily Skeptic

Chris Morrison

The world is “greening” at an alarming and rapid rate, and deserts are shrinking almost everywhere. It seems that this is all due to the natural increase in carbon dioxide from “plant foods”, not forgetting the small 4% contribution humans make every year by burning hydrocarbons. Of course, this doesn’t lend itself to the political “net zero” narrative—coupled with large numbers of polar bears, the cyclical return of Arctic sea ice, and recent record-breaking coral growth on the Great Barrier Reef—so mainstream media and political Rarely mentioned. “Desertification is impoverishing the planet,” the report states. guardian, and the expansion of drylands is putting the entire country “at risk of famine.” Great story, shame on the truth. A recent article in Yale Environment 360 Point out that instead of withering and dying, vegetation is growing faster and the desert is receding.

In fact, many scientists now believe that this process will continue to accelerate in the future. according to Yale University Article, CO₂ It is the “fast” photosynthesis in plants. By allowing them to use scarce water resources more efficiently, carbon dioxide₂– Observed that even in some of the driest places, rich air provides fertility for vegetation growth Yale University. For some time, there has been “increasing evidence” of greening in all biomes around the world, not just drylands, evidence we have noticed but ignored by net zero boosters. A Introduction to Carbon Desertification has been described as the greatest environmental challenge of our time, “and climate change is making it worse,” The Expositor claimed.

Introduction to Carbon The scheme is funded by environmental activist billionaires including Sir Christopher Hohn, the leader of the recently jailed Roger Hallam and Extinction Rebellion Former funder. Its desert climate is hysterical, like guardian, so it is to be expected. Interestingly, Yale Environment 360The institute, part of the Yale School of the Environment, also receives significant direct and indirect financial support from activist groups including ClimateWorks and the Hewlett and Ford foundations. This article is significant because it represents a “mainstream” breakthrough in the discussion of global greening, which is already evident in the professional scientific community.

Maybe it's not surprising Yale University The article attempts to bring a bit of climate gloom to the Green Parade. Greening caused by agricultural irrigation can “destroy ecosystems in dry areas.” But this is certainly man-made and has nothing to do with climate change. “Save the desert” may not be a popular environmental message, Yale continues, “but arid ecosystems matter.” Of course, there will be many who point out that if a handful of scorpions have to rise up to provide better nutrition for millions of African children, this is a small price to pay.

This article highlights much of the recent scientific work on global greening that has been reported in publications such as Global Greening. daily skeptic However, it has been downplayed and ignored by the propagators of the “net zero” narrative.

In 2016, a team of 33 scientists from eight countries conducted groundbreaking work studying NASA satellite images. They found that since 1980, the leaf area index of a quarter to half of the Earth's vegetation area has changed. LAI) increase, a measure of the abundance of plant life. Work at this time showed a 14% increase in vegetation. A 2021 University of California study concluded that photosynthesis increased by 12% and CO2₂ Fertilization is again the main reason. A 2020 assessment by scientists at the Woodwell Climate Research Center found that greening is “much more widespread than previously acknowledged” and is more than three times greater than desertification. Yale University pointed out that green cover covers 41% of the world's dry land, from India to the Sahel region of Africa, from northern China to southeastern Australia.

Chinese scientists are also involved in the case. Last year, researchers at Lanzhou University found “global differences” between aridity and leaf area in drylands over the past three decades. It is said that this “decoupling” is due to the influence of CO₂.

February, daily skeptic According to the report, another group of Chinese scientists found that about 55% of the world's land area showed “accelerated” vegetation growth over the past two decades. “Global greening is an indisputable fact,” they said.

They produced the above maps based on four data sets, which show that greening has accelerated in 55.8% of the world since 2000. Growth rates are said to be most pronounced in the plains of India and Europe (dark blue). Healthy growth can also be seen in the Amazon region, equatorial East Africa, coastal southern Australia and Ireland.

None of these findings should come as a surprise. carbon monoxide₂ The level 600 million years ago was much higher. Plants thrive in conditions where atmospheric carbon dioxide levels are three times higher than current levels₂ and nearly the amount of denudation over the past few million years. During the last ice age about 12,000 years ago, the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere₂ Dropping to such dangerously low levels, plant and human life are seriously threatened. Even if the recovery we've seen recently is small, plants will grow larger and use available water resources more efficiently. This kind of CO recovery₂ Concentrations of pollutants in the atmosphere have raised hopes of greater food resources in many parts of the world suffering from periodic famines.

Chris Morrison is daily skepticof Environment editor.

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