Another "water is wet" study

In what qualifies as the most obvious story of the day, researchers have found that when the concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide increases, poison ivy grows faster and is more vigorous.

Wow. I never would have guessed that one [/sarcasm]. I mean, after all, carbon dioxide is essentially plant food, several studies have already shown that trees grow faster in high CO2, and most species of plants evolved in atomspheres with carbon dioxide concentrations three to four times higher than today. For anyone who understands basic plant biology, this study's findings would have been quite predictable.

But I doubt this study was intended for scientists. Rather, it was intended to create screaming headlines like "Global Warming Will Create Super Poison Ivy!". Judging by the way they pounced on it -- it was featured on NPR's "All Things Considered" this afternoon -- that was exactly what the MainStreamMedia wanted.

Ever wonder why you don't hear about any studies showing how increases in carbon dioxide will increase forest growth, improve plant health, and produce larger crops? It's not that such studies can't, haven't been, or aren't being done, it's that such studies would undermine the alarmist position prevalent in the Media and, unfortunately, the scientific community.

After all, they have a society to engineer and Proles to micromanage. They can't let such things like facts get in the way.