Global Warming - The Blame Is not with the Plants

International scientific team reacts to misinterpretation of their research results and provides the correct perspective.

A week after announcing their surprising discovery that plants release 10 to 30 percent of the world's methane—a potent greenhouse gas—researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics warn that plants should not be blamed for recent global warming.

The scientists say that because emissions from plants are a natural source, they have existed long before man's influence started to impact atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases. Anthropogenic emissions—especially agricultural cultivation—are responsible for the well-documented increase in atmospheric methane since pre-industrial times. Emissions from plants contribute to the natural greenhouse effect and not to the recent temperature increase usually referred to as "global warming".

"The potential for reduction of global warming by planting trees is most definitely positive," said Frank Keppler, a scientist involed in the research. "The fundamental problem still remaining is the global large-scale anthropogenic burning of fossil fuels."