Description

The carbon dioxide that industrial civilization spews into the atmosphere has dramatic consequences for life on Earth that extend beyond climate change CO2 levels directly affect plant growth in turn affecting any kind of life that depends on plantsin other words everything

Greenhouse Planet reveals the stakes of increased CO2 for plants people and ecosystemsfrom crop yields to seasonal allergies and from wildfires to biodiversity The veteran plant biologist Lewis H Ziska describes the importance of plants for food medicine and culture and explores the complex ways higher CO2 concentrations alter the systems on which humanity relies He explains the science of how increased CO2 affects various plant species and addresses the politicization and disinformation surrounding these facts

Ziska confronts the claim that CO2 is plant food a longtime conservative talking point While not exactly false it is deeply misleading CO2 doesnt just make good plants grow it makes all plants grow It makes poison ivy more poisonous kudzu more prolific cheatgrass more flammable CO2 stimulates some species more than others weeds fare particularly well and become harder to control Many crops grow more abundantly but also become less nutritious And the further effects of climate change will be formidable