A warmer planet means a longer growing season; more CO2 means more luxuriant plant growth. ‘Global warming’ is making the planet more livable
By Steve Sawyer, Quora, August 11, 2025
One of the biggest problems humanity faces is not “climate change” but the global-warming alarmists who continue to spread fear with their constant reports linking every and all natural disasters to global warming (including recent heat waves), which they portray as an existential threat to our world and all of the human race.
So far, global temperatures have risen 1 degree Celsius in the last 150 years (per IPCC AR6). That is far from a catastrophe or an existential threat. And yet many people, and especially the younger generation, believe the alarmist misinformation and are very worried about the future of humans and the planet.
Quite the opposite! We humans have received material benefits from the much greater agricultural output in recent years, the result of the increased carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and the slight amount of warming to date, which has increased the length of the growing season. In particular, changes in CO2 levels in our atmosphere, which in the past 150 years have risen about 50% from 280 parts per million (ppm) to about 420 ppm, have done wonders for all the world’s plant life (see Figure 1).
In fact, the whole planet is much greener. Satellite measurements using a criteria called Leaf Area Index (LAI) show that the entire planet is about 35% greener that it was 50 years ago. And much of the greening has been in some of the drier areas like the Sahel region (sub-Sahara Africa).
Afraid of “global warming”? What you should be fearing is the propaganda from global-warming alarmists!
Steve Sawyer is a former engineer and executive in accounting and finance. To read the original Quora article, click here.