Hacker News Reader

This is completely false, misleading information. Disappointing to see it is at the top. Different plants have varying levels of ideal co2 concentrations, and many do worse when they are higher than now. Not to mention since co2 will change temperature and weather, the net effect could be bad for a given plant even if the plant would thrive with more co2 in isolation.

View on HN

My main point is that if CO2 levels fall below 150 ppm there would be a mass extinction of land-based plants, and of all the animals who depend on this vegetation. If you care about life on the continents, and human life, this is a valid concern when people explore schemes to rapidly remove massive quantities of CO2 from the atmosphere.

It is unlikely that we will accidentally lower CO2 levels too quickly.

Moreover, if we do happen to accomplish such a thing, it's easy to raise C02 levels; just burn more fossil fuels temporarily.

I wonder if we'll ever increase the biomass enough that we'll actually want to increase the total carbon in the system...

Reply on news.ycombinator.com