Won’t more CO2 help plants grow? episode artwork

EPISODE · Mar 28, 2024 · 8 MIN

Won’t more CO2 help plants grow?

from Ask MIT Climate · host David Des Marais, Laur Hesse Fisher

Plants take in CO2 from the air to grow—and today’s atmosphere has about 50% more CO2 than it did before we started burning massive amounts of fossil fuels. So, is that great news for plants? Prof. David Des Marais, a plant ecologist at MIT, helps answer this listener question.For a deeper dive and additional resources related to this episode, visit: For more episodes of TILclimate by the MIT Environmental Solutions Initiative, visit tilclimate.mit.edu.  CreditsLaur Hesse Fisher, Host and Executive ProducerDavid Lishansky, Editor and ProducerAaron Krol, Writer and ProducerAndrew Moseman, Science ReporterMichelle Harris, Fact CheckerMusic by Blue Dot SessionsArtwork by Aaron Krol

Episode metadata supplied by the publisher feed · Published Mar 28, 2024

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Plants take in CO2 from the air to grow—and today’s atmosphere has about 50% more CO2 than it did before we started burning massive amounts of fossil fuels. So, is that great news for plants?

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