Rick Santorum Thinks Carbon Dioxide Isn't Harmful to Plants? Tell That to a Plant

Rick Santorum, who could be the Republican nominee for president, doesn’t believe in climate change. On Monday, he scoffed at the idea: “The dangers of carbon dioxide? Tell that to a plant, how dangerous carbon dioxide is,” he said in a speech.

But if Santorum did sit down for a heart-to-heart with a plant or (more practically) the scientists who study them, they would tell him that carbon dioxide is not only dangerous to many plants, it’s life-threatening. Plants do need carbon dioxide to breathe, as Santorum implied, and increased concentrations can help them thrive—until the negative effects of climate change set in. Then they must deal with rising temperatures, thriving insects and fungi, and water shortages. For plants, these aren’t inconveniences, but hazards that could kill off huge swaths of the world's flora in a matter of years.

These scourges already are contributing to massive forest die-offs. In Alaska, almost 500,000 acres of yellow cedar trees—which generally live for more than 1,000 years—have died. In the western United States, so many huge swaths of aspens have shriveled up that scientists coined a name for the condition, Sudden Aspen Decline. (Yes, that’s SAD.) Researchers have predicted that up to 85 percent of the Amazon rainforest could disappear.

In the areas where yellow cedars live, for instance, the snow pack has been declining for years. Snow acts as an insulator for soil: Once it’s down on the ground, it traps heat underneath it, like a blanket spread over a bed. When snow melts, the ground can grow colder than it would otherwise, as it’s exposed for longer to lower winter temperatures. The roots of yellow cedars are sensitive to the cold, and without a blanket of snow to protect them, they freeze and die.

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