Climate Changed
Global Warming Is Slowing the Growth of Plant Life on Earth
Changes in the atmosphere’s water content are starting to kill vegetation on a planetary scale.
Photographer: Ulet Ifansasti/Getty Images
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The Earth is losing its plants and humanity is to blame, according to a new study.
Global vegetation growth has been in decline since the late 1990’s, due to changes in the water content of the atmosphere. An atmospheric vapor pressure deficit (VPD), or the difference between saturation water vapor and actual water vapor, was found to stall or reverse vegetation greening trends, according to new research published in Science Advances.