Climbing CO2 levels fuel agricultural triumph—and spark a climate debate

 Soaring carbon dioxide emissions, long branded as planetary poison, have paradoxically fueled a global “greening” of Earth’s vegetated areas—and made fruit crops hardier. The findings, analyzed alongside climate skepticism, reveal a scientific and political divide reshaping the climate change discourse. 

A groundbreaking study in Nature Climate Change revealed that up to half of Earth’s vegetated land has greened since 1982, with CO2 fertilization driving 70% of the change. This “greening” equates to an area twice the size of the United States, transforming landscapes from North Carolina strawberry fields to Iceland’s barren highlands.

Rising CO2 levels act as a “carbon fertilizer,” supercharging photosynthesis in plants. In greenhouses, tomato yields jump 80% when CO2 reaches 1,000 ppm—a level far above today’s 430 ppm—and strawberries gain extra sugars. Even space exploration benefits: elevated CO? boosts vitamin content in lettuce grown in simulated Martian conditions.

But the gains aren’t just in labs. Global warming itself aids agriculture. Extended growing seasons cut frost risks for orchards, with U.S. yields benefiting from a two-week longer growing period since the 1910s. Vulnerable crops like grapes and blueberries, which once perished in unseasonal freezes, now survive warmer springs...<<<Read More>>>...