Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere </HEAD> <BODY> <P> There are plenty of false believes about the carbon dioxide cycle. Unfortunately some of them are planted into minds at primary school. This page is written so that I do not have to explain the very basice over and over several times a year, just point people here, before going into discussion about carbon-dioxide. <P> Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is of great concern, because it contributes to global warming. Global warming is not detailed here (try google.com) but it can be very unpleasant. Besides increasing the sea level (flooding some areas) it can cause El-ninjo-s and -- quite controversialy (look for salt-concentration and Gulf undercurrent for more info) -- even a Northern-Hemisphere ice-age. <DL> <DT> Find a way to stop exhaling CO2 when you breathe and you can be Environmentally Correct. (this is a real flegmatic and stupid message taken from a discussion group) <DD> It suggest that when people breathe (eg. when pedalling a bicycle) they contribute to global warming. When people breathe they exhale the CO2 that was inhaled by the carrot that he ate. (or other greenery at the bottom of his foodchain). This activity does NOT contribute to global warming. </DD> <DT> Rainforest produce Oxygene <DD> This is false. Rainforests are in a carbon dioxide equilibrium, they normally do not produce oxygene and do not consume carbon dioxide. People tend to forget about the decaying processes in the rainforests, and only consider the tree's production of oxygen. </DD> <P> Most of this boils down two types of processes basically <UL> <LI> when the amount of 'green material' grow, carbon dioxide is consumed. The energy comes from the Sun. Wood is also considered 'green material' here. <LI> when the amount of 'green material' decrease, carbon dioxide is produced. This happens while burning these things. Burning with a flame or burning inside the muscles of an animal is similar in effect (different in speed and the exact reactions of course). </UL> <P> Note that many substances are one form or another of 'green material' referred above. eg.: <UL> <LI> Wooden furniture <LI> crops <LI> Tunafish that eats the crops <LI> oil made from crops <LI> mineral oil from millions of years old living organisms <LI> mineral gas (methane, ethane etc..) from millions of years old living organisms </UL> <P> Therefore getting wood out of forest in a fashion that the forest can recover actually decreases the carbon dioxide level of the atmosphere if the wood is not burnt (but used as furniture eg.). If the wood is burnt, it gives the CO2 back to the atmosphere. However killing the forest so that it cannot recover (eg. becomes a desert) really contributes to atmospheric carbon increase. <BR> Burning oil in en engine contributes carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. If you want to be very exact, there is also a cycle involved here, just the cycle is a few million years. This is quite different than a cycle of a few years. The atmosphere can accumulate a few years time worth carbon dioxide without increasing the CO2 level dangerously, but it cannot <P> USA is the biggest carbon dioxide producing country. It behaves very badly in this respect (think Kyoto). The best way to make the economy more economical is to slowly increase the tax on gas and oil products. Most Americans think they would suffer from higher gas prices. However their other taxes could be decreased, so money is not lost in any way. It would courage research and investment in efficiency and optimization. Having extreme carbon emissions will have a much higher cost in a few decades. This is very rude to our children. <P> some links: <UL> <LI><A HREF="http://www.nature.com/nsu/020408/020408-7.html">Rainforest breathes out</A> </UL> <P> Write to nspam_cell at x-dsl.hu if you have comments, questions. The email address is obfuscated so that nasty robots miss it, yet easy to find out the real one if you are a living human. </BODY> </HTML>