Over at Jo Nova’s website we are informed about an opportunity to email a tree and get return mail. This seemed like a fun project so here is my message of encouragement to a tree.
Hello Melbourne resident 1023233,
Hope this finds you in good health and good spirits.
Astute observers in my species like to remind everyone that life has an expiration date. Sorry to hear your rest of life expectancy is but 6-10 years. While death must come to all living things I hope it will please you to know that your descendants will prosper from the additional carbon dioxide that my species puts into the air. Things just keep getting better don’t they? You were born in a time of CO2 starvation but your offspring will have an easier time of it unless the radical climate change alarmists who see CO2 as a dangerous pollutant are able to impose a regime of reduction on the flora of the planet. It is amazing to me that some people want to starve the plants. Please excuse their ignorance for they know not what they do. Let the plants dance is my motto.
CO2, an invisible trace gas essential to life on Earth, is plant food. We exhale CO2 and help to feed the flora. In return they slip us oxygen of which we are rather fond in a mutually beneficial and amicable symbiotic relationship. From this evil comes? We owe CO2 an apology.
Thank -you for your contribution to my species. It is much appreciated even as it is seldom officially acknowledged. Perhaps we need to remedy that situation and start a ‘Hug A Tree Day’ campaign.
It is to be hoped you have enjoyed the benefits from the respiration of my species and our technological developments that provide you with additional CO2 nourishment. As an urban tree you get treats at commute time. There is a rumor atwitter than my fruits and veggies love the stuff.
We learned some time ago that plants grow bigger, stronger, faster with more CO2 in the ambient air. This seems to be lost on those who want to DENY you the benefits of additional CO2. Why do they want you undernourished? You do not look obese to me!
That you have been undernourished is borne out by a recent study which shows that trees absorb more CO2 than expected. Isn’t that a good thing?
As we add more CO2 to the air your stomata shrink and are able to absorb CO2 more easily due to the greater concentration in the air. Less water is required for your development and there is less transpiration from your smaller stomata. This is borne out by the reduction since 1948 in relative humidity at various altitudes in the troposphere. We have learned that when plants require less water the soil moisture content increases which means that the inevitable uninvited heat waves are less severe and of shorter duration. This recent paper bears this out. The authors conclude:
“it directly follows that the increase in soil moisture caused by rising atmospheric CO2 concentrations will tend to decrease both the intensity and duration of summer heat waves as time progresses.”
Things just keep getting better which seems to send some people into fits of rage. Certain members of my species who have taken leave of their senses are not happy unless the ‘sky is falling’ which has been a rare event in our history. We are still here.
Melbourne has an average Tmax = 68F. If the worst case scenario envisioned by our resident catastrophists comes to pass in 2100 your descendants will not be adversely affected and easily able to withstand a two degree rise in temperature. Hakuna Matata! Melbourne sounds like a beautiful city with a pleasant climate. You are lucky to spend your final years there.
With CO2 kisses to you I remain sincerely yours,
Len Srigley
Treehugger
Great White North
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