Can nature be our lifeline in times of crisis?
 

Fragmented intelligence destroys any possibility of understanding and reflection. Unable to grasp the context and the planetary complex, blind intelligence becomes unconscious and irresponsible. It has become deadly.

—The Challenge of Globality, Edgar Morin, 1993

 

Esther Oliver

Decades ago, we began to understand how plants react in a world with higher CO₂ levels. Scientists such as Harvard University professor Fakhri Bazzaz had already been investigating the potential implications in the 1970s. In 1992, he obtained his PhD with a thesis that refuted the optimism of those who championed the so-called ‘CO2 fertilisation effect’. Bazzaz not only warned that the potential benefits had been exaggerated, but also that there were reasons to question the idea that plants could become carbon dioxide sinks. He feared the response of ecosystems to a changing environment. Worse still, he was concerned that such an atmosphere might “induce climatic variations capable of undermining the integrity of the biological systems on which Homo sapiens depends”. He was crystal clear on this when he urged society to “limit the rate of anthropogenic emissions to avert the risk associated with rising CO₂ levels”.

Learning the theory has been of little use to us. Now, not only is it essential to drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but we must also significantly increase non-technological carbon capture. Take note: miracles do not exist!! Carbon capture and sequestration through technology will do little to mitigate the problem and will come too late. Even those who favour geoengineering ultimately acknowledge that the best course of action is to cut emissions now. Only nature could save us, but we have made its situation much worse in recent years.

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