The purpose of science is to investigate the unexplained, not to explain the uninvestigated. — Dr. Stephen Rorke

Consider this for a moment. A seed weighs very little. A tree however, weighs quite a lot.
Where then, does the stuff that makes up the tree come from?

Have a look at your computer desk, or a chair for reference. Your wooden furniture started out as a seed.

I imagine you and I both reached the obvious, yet false, conclusion. I am almost certain that you, like me, will be surprised by the answer.

The answer… from the air. From CO2 in fact.

There has been a tremendous debate about carbon dioxide (CO2) in recent years, with heavy discussion of CO2 emissions. However, few of us are aware that there is another half to the Carbon equation: that being how much CO2 we soak up. This is what plants do for a living.

Sometimes, we accept a given set of answers too readily. So, as a throw-away question: are you aware that an aircraft’s wings create lift? The chances are hight that you said yes.

So how is it then, that aircraft can fly upside down?
I’ll leave you with that thought, and point you in the direction of a Bristol University study on CO2 and Climate Change.

University study: CO2 levels remained constant since 1850
http://www.ecnmag.com/article-co2-levels-remained-constant-111109.aspx

The study found that the level of CO2 has remained unchanged for 160 years, since 1850.
The Bristol university page on the study can be found here:
http://www.bristol.ac.uk/news/2009/6649.html

The title of the paper is: 
Is the airborne fraction of anthropogenic CO2 emissions increasing?
by Wolfgang Knorr. Geophysical Research Letters, VOL. 36, L21710, doi:10.1029/2009GL040613, 2009.

This excerpt describes the findings:

A central tenet of “climate change” dogma holds that increased emissions (2 billion tons a year in 1850 to 35 billion tons a year now) leads to greater CO₂ levels in the atmosphere. But a new study from the University of Bristol could shake up traditional assumptions. The study suggests that CO₂ levels have remained constant since 1850.

According to the University, “The results run contrary to a significant body of recent research which expects that the capacity of terrestrial ecosystems and the oceans to absorb CO₂ should start to diminish as CO₂ emissions increase, letting greenhouse gas levels skyrocket.” In fact, the trend in the airborne fraction has only been 0.7 ± 1.4% per decade (essentially zero).

Please leave your comments below.

Tags: Biology, LinkedIn, Science