The world is 5% greener than it was 20 years ago

https://www.earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/144540/china-and-india-lead-the-way-in-greening

by craneca0 • 7 years ago

13 3 7 years ago

earthobservatory.nasa.gov

Fjolsvith• 7 years ago

Quote: "The research team found that global green leaf area has increased by 5 percent since the early 2000s, an area equivalent to all of the Amazon rainforests."

That's a pretty big patch of carbon sink. Another 20 years might have global cooling as a problem...

peatmoss• 7 years ago

I remember a 1990s oil company propaganda film called “The Greening of Planet Earth” that argued we didn’t need to worry about increases in CO2 because plants would just be that much happier and gobble up the carbon.

That plants do better with more CO2 is no surprise, but it’s still good to see more plant growth. The question is whether plant growth will fully offset the excess of CO2 in the atmosphere (since CO2 levels are rising, the answer seems to be no).

And even if plants could do it all, would there be other negative effects? That too seems to not look good, as I’ve read that food plants have become less nutritious as they grow more quickly as CO2 increases.

Good news, but we’re still in a fine mess.

jamesakirk• 7 years ago

"Note that the maps are not measuring the overall greenness, which explains why the Amazon and eastern North America do not stand out, among other forested areas."

This measures area, not density. It is not a good measure of carbon sink.

The world is 5% greener than it was 20 years ago

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