When the Sun shines, plants work all day to remove atmospheric CO₂ and convert it to the nutrients that support both plant and animal life. You need only think of how much plant life exists on planet Earth to know that plants will take out much more CO₂ than Man could possibly produce:



CARBON DIOXIDE AND LIFE
By Adip Said

Carbon Dioxide is an organic compound formed by one atom of Carbon and two atoms of Oxygen (O=C=O).

Carbon Dioxide (CO2) is a natural constituent of the atmosphere with a density of 747 mg per cubic meter of air. Its concentration in the composition of air is roughly 0.032%; however, of all the organic compounds, carbon dioxide is by far the most important one for the sustainability of the biosphere (the whole of life on Earth).

Without CO2 the life of photosynthetic organisms and animals would be impossible, given that CO2 provides the basis for the synthesis of organic compounds that provide nutrients for plants and animals.

Through photosynthesis, organisms with chlorophyll take in atmospheric CO2 or dissolve CO2 in water to form more complex molecules, such as carbohydrates, lipids, proteins and nucleic acids. The general formula of photosynthesis is as follows:

6CO2 + 6H2O + Light = C6H12O6 (Glucose) + 6O2

Carbon Dioxide is fixed in the chloroplast stroma. Thus fixed, carbon dioxide is then used by cytoplasm to synthesize sucrose.

An organism with chlorophyll absorbs light, CO2 and water from its surrounding environment. The water molecule is broken and the Hydrogen molecule bonds with carbon dioxide molecules to form glucose. Oxygen from the water molecule is released to the atmosphere, whereas the energy provided by photons is stored in the bonds of the glucose molecule.

Any nutritional chain begins with producer organisms; that is, with those organisms that produce their own food. These organisms are called autotrophs. Plants are autotrophs because they produce their own food; the raw materials for photosynthesis are water, carbon dioxide and light.

It has been determined experimentally that the density of carbon dioxide needed for the optimal development of all kinds of plants is 895 mg per cubic meter of air (about 500 ppmv).

Certain plants grow much better in atmospheres with very high densities of carbon dioxide; for example, the pteridophyte and certain species of conifers develop more successfully in humid atmospheres with 5000 ppmv of carbon dioxide.

Carbon Dioxide is not an environmental polluting agent because it is not detrimental or poisonous to life. Carbon dioxide cannot kill living cells by altering their structure or physiology in the same way, for example, as a snake venom will. It can only suffocate an organism when Oxygen is not present at a sufficient concentration to sustain life...

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