Plant Growth is Booming Due to CO2 Emissions

Plant Growth is Booming Due to CO2 Emissions

Top of Mind with Julie Rose - Radio Archive, Episode 544 , Segment 3

Episode: Trump's Tax Cuts, Origins of Misquotations, Photosynthesis

  • May 2, 2017 11:00 pm
  • 12:22 mins

Guest: Elliott Campbell, PhD, Associate Professor of Environmental Engineering, University of CA, Merced The consequences of climate change can be confusing. Some spots around the world experience dramatic drought while others get massive snowstorms. Intense and unusual are the hallmarks of weather as the Earth’s atmosphere warms. Sometimes the changes aren’t all bad, either, at least not in the short-run. For example, a study just published in the journal Nature finds plants are thriving with the increased carbon dioxide in the Earth’s atmosphere. Remember, CO2 is food for plants. The researchers found global plant production grew by 30 percent over the last 200 years, coinciding with the start of the Industrial Revolution and era of fossil-fuel burning. So, more plant production is great, because it means more food, right? Well, as with all things climate-change-related, the answer is complicated.

Other Segments

Who Will Benefit from Trump Tax Cuts?

16 MINS

Guest: Jay Zagorsky, PhD, Economist and Research Scientist, The Ohio State University Tax cuts are one of President Donald Trump’s main promises and about a week ago we got the broad outlines of what he’s got in mind. The big news is that Trump would like to slice the corporate tax rate in half. Trump believes a lower rate will give companies more money to invest in growing their business and make America more attractive to international companies accustomed to the lower corporate tax rates in other countries. The focus on corporate taxes gives the impression that businesses are the biggest contributor to the US government’s tax coffers. But, they aren’t. Not by a long shot. And the largest sources of federal tax revenue may surprise you. Or maybe not, if you’re still smarting from filing your income taxes last month.

Guest: Jay Zagorsky, PhD, Economist and Research Scientist, The Ohio State University Tax cuts are one of President Donald Trump’s main promises and about a week ago we got the broad outlines of what he’s got in mind. The big news is that Trump would like to slice the corporate tax rate in half. Trump believes a lower rate will give companies more money to invest in growing their business and make America more attractive to international companies accustomed to the lower corporate tax rates in other countries. The focus on corporate taxes gives the impression that businesses are the biggest contributor to the US government’s tax coffers. But, they aren’t. Not by a long shot. And the largest sources of federal tax revenue may surprise you. Or maybe not, if you’re still smarting from filing your income taxes last month.