When wishing for accelerated plant growth, be careful what you wish for. Recent studies have shown that CO2 strongly stimulates production of certain allergens such as those produced by poison ivy and ragweed.
Poison ivy:
http://www.pnas.org/content/103/24/9086.full
“In this 6-year study at the Duke University Free-Air CO2 Enrichment experiment, we show that elevated atmospheric CO2 in an intact forest ecosystem increases photosynthesis, water use efficiency, growth, and population biomass of poison ivy. The CO2 growth stimulation exceeds that of most other woody species. Furthermore, high-CO2 plants produce a more allergenic form of urushiol. ”
Ragweed:
http://www.chgeharvard.org/sites/default/files/resources/pollen_wayne_epsteinpdf.pdf
“Objective: To study the direct impact of rising atmospheric CO2 concentrations on ragweed (Ambrosia artemisiifolia L.) pollen production and growth. Results: A doubling of the atmospheric CO2 concentration stimulated ragweed-pollen production by 61% (P = 0.005).”
More about asthma and ragweed allergy here:
http://asthmaandallergies.org/asthma-allergies/ragweed-allergy/
It is striking that in neither the original post nor the 247 responses thus far, not even the slightest mention been made of these widely publicized studies in this thread. Instead the thread seems dedicated to denying the existence of any possible causal connection between CO2 and allergens.
Evidently Climate Etc. has a knee-jerk response to any suggestion that rising CO2 may be hazardous to human health, namely “rubbish”. I therefore see no alternative to simply discounting Climate Etc. as merely yet another pseudo-scientific climate blog.
