Science (AAAS) Ignores Carbon Dioxide’s Positive Effect on Crop Yields

 

A short piece in Science (AAAS) by Kelly Servick (Mar 6, 2017) ignores carbon dioxide in explaining how increased sunlight has caused U.S. corn yields to grow over the past 3 decades.  Servick says the increased sunlight was due to decreased atmospheric aerosol content and that projections by global climate models indicate that this will not continue into the future due to rising temperatures and drought.  Interestingly, the positive effects of carbon dioxide on plant drought tolerance and fertilizing effect were not mentioned.

 

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Author: J Paul Kahler

J. Paul Kahler is a retired meteorologist with 24 years in the U.S. Air Force and another 17+ years working for various defense contractors. During these 41+ years, he worked as a weather forecaster, a staff meteorologist supporting defense research and development, and a senior scientist supporting high energy laser research and development. His educational background includes a bachelors degree in meteorology (U. of Oklahoma) and a masters degree in Marine Science (meteorology) (North Caroline State University.)