Question

Carbon dioxide is necessary for plants. Why do we consider it a pollutant?

Answer 1

Green plants, through photosynthesis, convert carbon dioxide to glucose in the presence of sunlight, which is a food for plants and is further stored in the form of starch. Thus, carbon dioxide is an essential requirement for plants and is being regularly fixed by them.

CO₂ is considered a pollutant because of its increased concentration in recent years. Due to the burning of fossil fuels, deforestation and other human activities, large amounts of CO₂ and other greenhouse gases are added to the atmosphere. These increased greenhouse gases trap the heat reflected by the earth. This heats up the atmosphere which further leads to an increase in the earth’s average temperature. This phenomenon is called global warming. Some of the harmful effects of global warming are:

1. An increase in the temperature of the earth can lead to the melting of polar ice caps. This will result in rising in the sea level, due to which coastal regions will be flooded or might even be submerged.
2. An increase in the temperature of the earth due to the greenhouse effect will result in changes in weather and precipitation patterns.