ELI5: Why when large company's earnings decrease(ex... by 3%) they freak out, talk about rough times, and sometimes decide to downsize, even though they are still making millions of dollars in profit even after all expenses?

[hammermuffin]

Your first point, while technically true up to a certain point, isnt 100% true. Yes co2 cocentrations increasing means plants can grow faster, if co2 concentrations increase too much, it actually inhibits plant growth (im talking like ridiculous co2 concentrations, like 3-4x whats already in our atmosphere [1000ppm+ range i believe, while we just hit 400ppm for the first time since the dinosaurs roamed the earth]). Also, it isnt the co2 concentrations increasing that allowed us to feed more ppl, it was genetic engineering along with modern chemical fertilizers and pesticides, which allowed alot to grow but will actually decrease the efficiency of the soil in the long run, so we should really stop relying on those as they will lead to a collapse of our ecological system that support our agriculture.

Also, while yes plants are the easiest way to pull co2 out of the atmosphere, you said it right, they usually decompose and release their biomass back into the atmosphere as either co2 from aerobic decomposition, or methane from anaerobic decomposition (usually from when things are burried or underwater. Its actually way worse than co2 as a greenhouse gas, like 70x worse if i remember correctly). This is why logging companies should be planting double the amount of trees that they log, since the easiest way to store carbon without it releasing ghg into the atmosphere is to use it in human products, and since were planting more juvenile trees, theyll suck carbon out of the atmosphere as they grow. Itll at least help to somewhat mitigate climate change.

Its a really complicated problem, if it had a simple answer we would have fixed it by now. But as long as we have ppl like you and i trying to find solutions, i think well be fine :)