You are aware that Carbon Dioxide is not a pollutant ?

Question

What would our plants do without it?

Who told you that, Al Gore. And good sir, plants cannot live without water either. Did you ever try to live in a septic tank? Like i said, don't let the wooden soldier fool you, he is making sucker out of you.

Answer 1

Are you aware that carbon dioxide is poisonous if it is in high enough concentrations?

Are you aware that water can be considered a pollutant if it is warm enough?

Are you aware that minerals such as salt can be a pollutant even if those minerals are found normally in the soil?

Are you aware that ozone is natural and needed in the environment but is a pollutant where we live?

Answer 2

You are correct we need carbon dioxide on the planet to support primary production and to provide the atmosphere with the capability to retain more heat. The percent of gasses in our atmosphere that are CO2 is small (ca. 1%) but the atmosphere is very sensitive to small fluctuations in this atmospheric component.

Numerous scientific studies that have examined paleoclimatic proxies for CO2 content and Temperature show very remarkable agreement on thier trends over time. It appears we will soon be entering a phase of our history where the CO2 levels will be higher than they have been for 100 million years in the past. This change in CO2 concentration has been very rapid, unlike anything that had occured in that paleo-proxy record.

Personally, I consider CO2 like water. The human body needs water, but it is possible to quickly consume too much water that can lead to death - as was illustrated recently in a radio station promotion that lead to the death of a listener.

Finally the IPCC will tommorow release the results of thier most recent comprehensive studies that will indicate a 99% probability that the warming trends in the last century are due to anthropogenic CO2 loading of our atmosphere. This is up significantly from thier last report in 2001 of 66% probability.

I think CO2 should be considered a pollutant if it reaches concentrations that exceed a certian threshold. That threshold should be established by the best science available. but if economic concerns continue to trump the science in the U.S. we will let this problem continue to the point where our costs will be extreme.

Answer 3

You are mistaken. There is a specific ratio of gases that make up the atmosphere. When plants and animals interact, this gas ratio remains equal. However, when we introduce new carbon dioxide into the atmosphere from fossil fuels that are well below the surface of the earth, we are changing that ratio, which is believed to cause global warming. By using biofuels (fuels that are created from carbon from plants that are already a part of the atmosphere), we are able to use the energy that comes from these fuels without changing the ratio of atmospheric gases. If people continue to use the old way of thinking and think of the earth as one big resource for our benefit, we will continue to destroy it. I have talked to numerous people who have been working on this issue for years and sometimes decades and I think they have a bit more expertise than the general public.

Answer 4

A pollutant is merely something that contaminates an environment so you need to be more specific in your definition. CO2 is not a pollutant by USEPA standards but it is a contaminants to some environments, like deep oceanic ecosystems that thrive on sulfur.

Water can also be a pollutant, given the context.

Answer 5

I know what you are are trying to say: plants convert CO2 to O2 and animals convert O2 to CO2. This stayed in balance untill the fairly recent natural history.
HOWEVER one species, humans, became so "siccessful" as a species that they altered this global gaseous balance. In too high quantities CO2 becomes a poison for animals and too high O2 levels (a theoretical scenario we'll never experience) becomes detrimental to plants (although to a lesser extent, because plants both photosynthesize and respire(respirate)). Unnaturally high levels of CO2 also leads to indirect influences on biota such as the global greenhouse effect.
Theoretically, elevated CO2 levels should stimulate faster forest growth. This doesnt happen because humans cut down trees faster than they can grow.

Answer 6

excess of carbondioxide results in the increase of temp.on earth thickening the natual blanket i.e. atmosphere .this process is known as global warming n harmful for us.hence carbon dioxide can be a pollutant

Answer 7

nobody ever said it is a pollutant...
water isnt a pollutant either... why don't you go try living under water

Answer 8

Water isn't a poison, either. What we do without it? But if you drink too much, you die.