I've stayed out of this thread, I studied Biology at university and most of my final year was majoring in ecology, terrestrial, aquatic and atmospheric. There is some very simplistic science on this thread, from those claiming to have scientific knowledge. As someone who has studied this, I can tell you the oft quoted 'fact' on this thread of more CO2 means more plant growth is the sort of thing that is taught in general science, I would expect a GCSE Biology student to have a better understanding, I would expect an A level Biologist to know better and someone at degree level to know that too much CO2 is actually damaging to plant life, especially those that prefer alkaline soil, as CO2 saturation will result absorption into water ending up with more acidic conditions. Not only this, whilst CO2 is important in establishing the homeostatic mechanism whereby both plants and animals maintain their internal pH. If there is too much CO2, the CO2 absorbs into the cytosol and affects the internal pH, dropping it into the acidic end of the carbonate-bicarbonate buffer system, thus effecting enzymes which need a specific pH to function. So too much CO2 will acidify the leaves and kill plants. There are other variables that result in faster plant growth than an increase in CO2, space and water being probably the 2 most important, whilst CO2 is vital to the process, just raising its levels wont result in faster growth without an increase in water, space, the correct temperature and pH being maintained, as well as the presence of other more negligible minerals as well. In general plants need consistency to grow fast, a change in any one variable is likely to shock a plant, stunting growth and in extreme circumstances, killing it.
The degree of certainty being displayed by both sides of the argument on here is quite amusing, as even true experts in the field cant have any real certainty as to the effects of what is happening and what will happen (that is a wider point of social media, that it gives equal weighting to either side of any discussion because its a great leveler, you can have a physics debate with Steven Hawking on one side and Wayne Rooney on the other, for someone with little or no knowledge of who they are, their text appears the same so is given the same credence). There are some facts however, the temperature of the planet is increasing (unless you believe there is a conspiracy across multiple agencies and countries to lie about it), while there is evidence that the planet has been warmer in the past, the planet should be in a cooling phase not a warming one certainly if you believe in the cyclic effect of weather. Glaciers are disappearing, the ice caps are retreating further than before, ecosystems are being widely destroyed and there is a mass extinction of animals occurring on a level that hasnt been seen before without there being a significant climate shift ie an ice age. Planting a few trees will have no effect, planting a lot of trees wont necessarily have an effect, willfully destroying rain forest as is happening and replacing them with farm land or palm crops and thinking this is alright because they are plants is again bad science, as rainforests absorb far more CO2 than anything that replaces them. Man simply cant create a rain forest, they are quite delicate and intricate ecosystems that have evolved over millennia, its questionable if we have the knowledge to create one, let alone the resources of space, conditions and of course money, yet we are destroying them without much thought to the consequences.
Even if you dont think any of the above is important, that CO2 levels going up, sea levels rising and a bit of a temp increase is quite alright (even though there is there very likely chance that Britain will be cooler due to losing the gulf stream), and that tree huggers have some sort of agenda to keep the third world down and drive taxes up on car drivers. There is the indisputable fact that fossil fuels are running out, being at the forefront of renewable technology is a far better place to be, than being stuck behind the 8 ball early on and not catching up, thus having to rely on others that make the developments in new technologies in the future. As was once said by Harry Enfield of all people, its better to be on the train pissing out, than running along the platform, trying to piss in
