Enhanced growth of Earth's leafy greens during the 20th
century has significantly slowed the planet's transition to being red-hot,
according to the first study to specify the extent to which plants have
prevented climate change since pre-industrial times. Researchers based at
Princeton University found that land ecosystems have kept the planet cooler by
absorbing billions of tons of carbon, especially during the past 60 years.
The planet's land-based carbon "sink" — or
carbon-storage capacity — has kept 186 billion to 192 billion tons of carbon
out of the atmosphere since the mid-20th century, the researchers report in the
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.