A Free-Market Energy Blog

On the Benefits of CO2

By Randal Utech -- April 11, 2023

Some interesting facts on CO2. The trace gas of life is very beneficial. CO2 is greening the earth and feeding the hungry. CO2 has not been proven to ‘drive’ climate change except as conveyed by the models which remain erroneous and incomplete. We are near the lowest level of CO2 over earth history. The secondary feedback heating effect of CO2 is limited by the IR logarithmic forcing law and is nearly saturated at current levels. The earth never had runaway heating even at 10x-20x current levels of CO2. Interesting that most plants evolved at levels averaging near 1200 ppm or roughly 3x current levels.

Desert greening

https://www.csiro.au/en/news/news-releases/2013/deserts-greening-from-rising-co2

Plant fertilizer higher than expected

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/gcb.14950

CO2 reducing plant water needs

https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1604581113

CO2 sink

https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/nph.16866

Greening observed by NASA

https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2016/carbon-dioxide-fertilization-greening-earth

NASA – greening mitigates warming

https://www.nasa.gov/feature/greening-of-the-earth-mitigates-surface-warming

More food production 

https://co2coalition.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Corn-yield-GOOD.jpg

CO2 over earth history 

https://earth.geology.yale.edu/~ajs/2001/Feb/qn020100182.pdf

Logarithmic forcing 

https://escholarship.mcgill.ca/downloads/db78th05j

Utech Comment: “As a result of this post, my LinkedIn account was suspended 3/30/23. While I had two previous comments removed pertaining to climate science (sea level and questioning ‘the science’), my last post with 500+ likes is what sparked the suspension. I suspect but cannot confirm the censorship is initiated from the ‘Just Stop Oil’ alarmists, but LI removed my access. I believe there is a pattern for comment removal and that is using a statement that ‘CO2 does not drive climate’ is what is considered misinformation. More than 35,000 views and 110 reposts in just two days. I suspect the reposts were also removed but do not know. I will appreciate any feedback or comments you may have.

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Randal Utech is a Geoscientist living in Richmond, Texas outside Houston. After 38 years in the industry, he retired from Schlumberger as an Advisor Geoscientist in 2020. Utech has followed and researched climate science for nearly 30 years with emphasis on geology, paleoclimate, and the glacial cycles. An interview with him by the American Association of Petroleum Geologists can be found here.

6 Comments


  1. Richard Greene  

    “CO2 has not been proven to ‘drive’ climate change except as conveyed by the models which remain erroneous and incomplete.”

    Here is what I would have written instead of that sentence — much more detailed to avoid misinterpretation — and they probably would have cancelled me faster than they cancelled you, anyway. …

    Manmade CO2 emissions are one of many manmade and natural causes of climate change. Because there are so many climate change variables, no one knows exactly what each variable has done in the past. Many people claim to know. But they are just speculating.

    There is evidence that manmade CO2 emissions are responsible for at least some of the 1975 to 2015 global warming. Exactly how much is impossible to know.

    But there has also been no global warming since 2014, per UAH satellite data. That shows the warming effect of the largest amount of CO2 emissions over any 8 year and 9 month period in history, can be offset by the cooling effect of other climate change variables.

    The computer games called climate models merely predict whatever they are programmed to predict by humans. But no human on this planet has ever demonstrated the ability to make correct long term climate predictions. Meaning the output of climate models are just a variety of guesses. not based on data. There are no data for the future climate — there is just data-free speculation. The predictions for rapid, dangerous global warming (aka CAGW) from the “models” must be data free, because CAGW has never before existed on this planet. There can not be data for something that has never happened. …

    Your sentence (above) was a weak sentence that could be misinterpreted. Remember that you are dealing with an anti-CO2 religion, and you discredited their favorite boogeyman, CO2.

    The rest of your article is great, so I immediately recommended it to readers of my Climate Science blog, as one of the four best articles, out of 20 climate and energy articles I will read and recommended today:

    https://honestclimatescience.blogspot.com/2023/04/the-best-climate-science-and-energy_11.html

    I have been an advocate of much higher CO2 levels since 1997, based on reading a total of about 300 CO2 enrichment — C3 plant growth studies. My initial goal is 750ppm to start — I know greenhouse owners typically CO2 enrich to 1000 to 1500ppm.

    Any global warming from extra CO2 will be harmless, mainly affecting colder nations, at night, in the winter, with the VERY important exception of Antarctica. Because of the permanent temperature inversion over most of Antarctica, CO2 causes global cooling over most of Antarctica, NOT global warming. That’s why Antarctica is just as cold now as it was in the 1970s. And that’s why relative sea level rise, as measured with NOAA tide gauges, has not accelerated since the 1970s

    Richard Greene
    Bingham Farms, Michigan
    https://honestclimatescience.blogspot.com/

    Reply

  2. Randal, Utech  

    Richard
    I definitely appreciate your comments and suggestions. I have since reposted the essence of my original post but with careful review of the content and with directly supportive references. I leave it to the reader to make their own conclusions from the preponderance of information and references provided adding strength to the message without directly poking the boogeyman. Much harder to make a case of misinformation. Special thanks to you and Rob.

    Reply

  3. Randal Utech  

    Here is my revised LinkedIn post:

    https://www.linkedin.com/posts/randal-utech-2b1698102_deserts-greening-from-rising-co2-activity-7056057775428169728-tB78

    In one week 218000 views, 2080 positive reactions and 390 reposts.

    Reply

  4. Randal Utech  

    As my LinkedIn account was suspended again my revised post link is unfortunately no longer accessible.

    As of May 18th 2023 just before LI halted access due to posting “misinformation”, the revised post had:
    2138 positive responses
    397 reposts
    >228,000 views
    700+ comments

    REVISED POST

    Based on several publications referenced below it Interesting that increasing CO2 levels are proving quite beneficial to plant life. Multiple studies including those by NASA show the earth has accelerated greening over the last 30 years largely due to increased levels of carbon dioxide especially in arid regions. Moreover, studies show the fertilization effect has increased carbon fixation by photosynthesis by 30% since 1900. Other studies are showing that increased CO2 levels are improving drought tolerance of plants by modifying stomatal conductance thus reducing water intake requirements. Increased global photosynthesis and water use efficiency contributes to a growing terrestrial carbon sink and thus a significant negative feedback to mitigate a warming climate. Based on these studies increased CO2 levels are essentially greening the earth and helping to feed the hungry evidenced by greenhouse supplementation studies showing 1200 ppm is optimal for plant and food growth.
    It is also interesting to note that current levels of CO2 in the atmosphere are near the lowest levels experienced over earth history as illustrated by Berner et. al. (GEOCARB) where levels are shown to have been commonly 3x current levels and up to 10x-20x in the Paleozoic. I am intrigued that the earth never experienced runaway heating evidenced by Scotese’s paleoclimate analysis. Perhaps this is because CO2 secondary feedback heating is limited by the IR logarithmic forcing law (illustrated by Huang)?

    So my question is: Do we really understand the dynamics of earth’s climate systems well enough to infer that CO2 is the principal driver of climate?

    Desert greening
    https://www.csiro.au/en/news/news-releases/2013/deserts-greening-from-rising-co2

    Plant fertilizer higher than expected
    https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/gcb.14950

    CO2 reducing plant water needs
    https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1604581113

    CO2 sink
    https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/nph.16866

    Greening observed by NASA
    https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2016/carbon-dioxide-fertilization-greening-earth

    NASA – greening mitigates warming
    https://www.nasa.gov/feature/greening-of-the-earth-mitigates-surface-warming

    Greenhouse CO2 supplementation
    https://extension.okstate.edu/fact-sheets/greenhouse-carbon-dioxide-supplementation.html

    CO2 over earth history
    https://ajs.scholasticahq.com/article/61570-geocarb-iii-a-revised-model-of-atmospheric-co2-over-phanerozoic-time

    Paleoclimate over earth history
    http://www.scotese.com/climate.htm

    Logarithmic forcing
    https://escholarship.mcgill.ca/downloads/db78th05j

    Reply

  5. rbradley  

    Ed. Note: This post at LinkedIn resulted in the author’s account being suspended (see final comment below). MasterResource is pleased to repost and let the readers debate and decide the issues for themselves.

    Reply

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