– CO2 cuts could lead to mass starvation, says scientist:
Could impoverish the world
4 Jun 2016 – Decarbonizing the globe could have devastating consequences on the world’s way of life, warns M.J. Kelly, a University of Cambridge engineering professor.
CO2 brings immense benefits
In peer-reviewed research, Kelly argued that carbon dioxide should be considered the byproduct of the “immense benefits” of a technologically advanced society.
Cutting carbon, said Kelly, could result in a dramatic reduction in the world’s quality of life that would usher in mass starvation, poverty and civil strife. Massive decarbonization is “only possible if we wish to see large parts of the population die from starvation, destitution or violence in the absence of enough low-carbon energy to sustain society.”
“Humanity is owed a serious investigation of how we have gone so far with the decarbonization project without a serious challenge in terms of engineering reality,” Kelly added.
CO2 has major upsides
“Everyone assumes that every change is for the worse, but we are starting to find upsides” in carbon dioxide, said Kelly. “The recent science is casting doubt on whether more CO2 is necessarily a bad thing.”
Last November, Indur Goklany, a U.S. Department of the Interior official and a former delegate to the IPCC, said carbon dioxide is a major factor in plant fertilization and boosting crop yields, among other benefits.
High levels of CO2 concentration have actually helped improve biosphere productivity by 14 percent over the last three decades, Goklany’s research found.
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