Shock News : 100 Years Ago, Scientific American Said CO2 Was Not A Pollutant

11 Responses to Shock News : 100 Years Ago, Scientific American Said CO2 Was Not A Pollutant

1. nigelf says:

   November 22, 2013 at 11:11 pm

   And 90 years later here we still are…not a pollutant.

   Reply
2. Bob Greene says:

   November 24, 2013 at 1:59 pm

   I’m sure Steve missed the retraction published in subsequent issues.

   Reply
3. daddyjamesb@gmail.com says:

   November 25, 2013 at 5:27 am

   “According to the inventor’s opinion” that appeared in American Scientific. Thanks for the laugh.

   Reply
4. daveburton says:

   January 25, 2015 at 5:44 am

   Thanks for this! I posted a tidier copy of the article here:
   http://www.burtonsys.com/climate/CO2_enrichment_1923.html

   The experiments 91 years ago (when atmospheric CO2 levels averaged 0.03%) found that CO2 from blast furnace exhaust could be used to increase various crop yields by from 100% to 300%. Crops tested included tomatoes, spinach, castor oil plants, potatoes, lupines, and barley.

   Reply
   • daveburton says:

     January 27, 2015 at 5:55 pm

     Correction: 95 years ago, not 91 years ago.

     Reply
5. daveburton says:

   January 27, 2015 at 5:51 pm

   I found the Nov. 27, 1920 issue of Scientific American (digitized by Google) upon which this story was based, and put a copy on my web site, here:
   http://www.sealevel.info/ScientificAmerican_1920-11-27_CO2_fertilization.pdf

   This photograph of potatoes is one of the illustrations from that article:
   http://www.sealevel.info/CO2_fertilized_potatoes_1920_50pct.jpg

   Reply
6. Stark Dickflüssig says:

   January 27, 2015 at 6:19 pm

   Wait till when they learn that the other byproduct of hydrocarbon combustion is water. I can’t wait to have discussions with the same idiots who currently claim that CO2 levels under 5000ppm count as pollution.

   Reply
   • Gail Combs says:

     January 27, 2015 at 6:40 pm

     Just call it Di hydrogen Monoxide

     http://www.dhmo.org/facts.html

     …Research conducted by award-winning U.S. scientist Nathan Zohner concluded that roughly 86 percent of the population supports a ban on dihydrogen monoxide….

     The Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow (CFACT) got a bunch to sign the petition at the United Nations Conference on Climate Change in Mexico in 2010
     https://friskaliberal.wordpress.com/2010/12/10/climate-change-delegates-sign-prank-petition-to-derail-u-s-economy-ban-water/

     Steven Crowder video: Go Green, Kill People!
     https://friskaliberal.wordpress.com/2010/12/17/steven-crowder-go-green-kill-people/

     A few more HERE:
     https://friskaliberal.wordpress.com/category/funny-political-videos/page/2/

     Reply
7. daveburton says:

   January 27, 2015 at 9:38 pm

   I did a bit of cutting and pasting, to fit that entire Scientific American article onto one 8.5×11 page:
   http://www.sealevel.info/ScientificAmerican_1920-11-27_CO2_fertilization.jpg

   Reply
8. daveburton says:

   January 28, 2015 at 1:05 am

   Here’s another article based on the SciAm article. This one was in the 1-1-2021 issue of The Literary Digest by Funk & Wagnalls:

   Original scan by Google:
   http://www.sealevel.info/TheLiteraryDigest_1921-01-01_Fertilizing_the_Air.pdf

   Cleaned up:
   http://www.sealevel.info/TheLiteraryDigest_1921-01-01_Fertilizing_the_Air.html

   Reply
   • daveburton says:

     January 28, 2015 at 4:35 am

     Oops… 1921, not 2021

     Reply