Plants make our food and oxygen. Plants take CO2 and water into their cells. Then, sunlight and chloroophyll, the green coloring matter, convert them into simple sugars and release oxygen to the atmosphere. The plant transforms the simple sugars into the parts we eat. These are leaves, stems, nuts, seeds, fruits, roots, and oils that we eat.
CO2 has been much higher in the past. It was during these higher levels that plants emerged and developed.
Annually, vegetation absorbs 123 billion tonnes of CO2 and releases 120. The oceans absorb 101 billion tonnes and release 99 billion tonnes. Thus, 28%, or about one-quarter, of the CO2, in the atmosphere is recycled each year. The annual input of COe to the atmosphere was 9 billion tonnes at the date of this figure. It is higher now.
