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CO2 Coalition Intervenes in Washington

May 2, 2019 (EIRNS)—Princeton physicist Dr. William Happer, one of the founders of the CO2 Coalition of scientists, was reportedly scheduled to meet with President Donald Trump in the White House May 1, while the Coalition presented a forum in Washington—enlightening though sparsely attended—on the benefits of rising CO2 atmospheric levels for global food security. Dr. Happer, who did not speak at the forum, was to discuss Trump’s idea of a Presidential panel on climate science, according to a report in Daily Caller May 1 and another in Washington Examiner May 2. Dr. Happer is on the staff of the National Security Council.

No confirmation of the meeting came from either the White House or Dr. Happer, although the Examiner reported “Friends of Happer, and some advising the formation of the group, say they expect an announcement soon from the panel on its direction and structure.”

In the Visitors’ Center meeting rooms under the Capitol, Dr. Jacob Rossiter and Dr. Craig Idso of the Coalition presented exhaustive evidence that the small rise in CO2 atmospheric concentrations in the industrial age has provided extraordinary benefits for the biosphere—specifically, for the growth of plants of every kind from trees to cereals to legumes, etc.

Dr. Idso made the main presentation; Dr. Rossiter testified on the subject April 30 in the House Government Oversight Subcommittee on Science and Environment. Activists from the neo-medieval children’s crusade called the Sunrise Movement had been gathered to shout down Rossiter’s testimony, and he was able to give it only after Capitol Police cleared them from the room.

Most provocative were Idso’s charts and maps demonstrating that the 1982-2011 trend of increasing gross primary production (GPP) and water use efficiency (WUE) of biomass—including the contribution to these increases of a higher total leaf area index—were in fact global trends affecting even the great deserts. The largest percentage increases in GPP and WUE have actually taken place on the great African/Eurasian desert, the only exception being a northern section of the Gobi Desert where both have declined. Gross primary production of biomass has declined in the central Sahel despite slightly increased water use efficiency—this is the area to be transformed by the Transaqua Project.

Since the development and publication of these fundamental measures by Dr. Sylvan H. Wittner in 1982, some 10,000 experiments, in both indoor and outdoor environments, have been conducted to test the role of increasing CO2 concentration in this global trend—and it appeared Dr. Idso might have the data from all of them! They show that more CO—concentrations tested up to 650 ppm, compared to 400 ppm now—cause higher plant productivity, increased nutrient acquisition (including from fertilizers), and increased crop yields per unit of irrigation water applied. This has been shown for cereals, roots and tubers, legumes, leafy vegetables, beans, and fruit bushes, vines and trees. In addition, the rise already measured since the start of the industrial age, from approximately 330 ppm to 400 ppm, has seen increased tree size all over the world, in addition to the counter-desertification effects noted above.

When EIR raised the proposed Presidential climate science panel, the very understated Dr. Idso strongly and “absolutely” supported it. “That’s how science works,” he said. “Make hypotheses, test time. Find out whose are more correct.”

The pamphlet “What Rising CO2 Means for Global Food Security” is available on the CO2 Coalition’s website.

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