A climate change prediction that Whitley Strieber used as research for his book Nature’s End thirty years ago has proved to be not only accurate, but to have understated the intensity of global warming by 30%.
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With global warming comes increased levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, which benefits at least one species: weeds. Carbon dioxide acts as a fertilizer to invasive exotic grasses, resulting in higher growth rates and larger leaves. These stronger plants are also proving more resistant to the world’s most important herbicide, Roundup, which is widely used on genetically-modified crops.
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Getting rid of CO2 in the atmosphere by capturing it and burying it in the ground sounds like a good idea, but a Canadian farm couple whose land lies over the world’s largest carbon capture and storage project says greenhouse gases seeping up from the soil are killing animals and sending groundwater foaming to the surface like soda pop. Perhaps this shouldn’t be surprising 6,000 tons of the gas is injected underground every day by the Canadian energy company Cenovus, which (to its credit) is doing this to try to fight climate change.
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But they CAN heal themselves! – Plants are pooped?they probably won’t soak up any more carbon dioxide as the planet continues to warm. They’ve got to concentrate on healing themselves too: they make their own “aspirin!”
Some grassland that was being tested absorbed less CO2 than usual for two years following temperatures that were unusually hot?they way the world will be in the future. A lot of governments are hoping to curb global warming by planting trees and saving the rain forests, but this may not be effective.
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