Summer Banks
SaraJBut Carbon Dioxide is natural right?
April 3rd 2007 04:52
I am currently in New Zealand, and have had the opportunity to bump into a couple of drillers in my travels. These guys have drilled for Oil in various places in the world including Iraq, and also have drilled in the Arctic and Antarctic Arctic for Oil I think and Antarctic for core samples.
So, we got into a discussion about how natural processes and how they create carbon dioxide, and if its produced naturally, why is it such a big deal if we are emitting it too. It is natural after all?
This is true. In order to address this point, I must admit plagiarism from a book I have read called The End of Oil by Paul Roberts, which I recommend reading.
Earths atmosphere was at one stage almost all CO2. Over time, this CO2 was soaked up through carbon sinks (green plants and seawater). As plants create Oxygen, this ended up creating conditions more conducive to us being here. However, capture of Carbon by plants is temporary as when the plant dies, is burned, or gets eaten the Carbon can be released into the atmosphere as Carbon Dioxide (or in the case of eaten Methane from farting cows). The Carbon Doixide then hangs around until it is captured again which can sometimes be rather a long process. There is longer term sequestration though in the form of limestone, shale and Hydrocarbons.
Approximately 500 years ago, the carbon cycle of capture and release was close to equilibrium. The number of CO2 molecules in the air was about 270 parts per million and for each molecule of CO2 emitted (decomposition of plants or fire), one molecule would be absorbed. The book referred to above states:
The carbon cycle was running slightly ahead of the game: every year the earths natural processes were released some 210 billion tons of CO2 into the atmosphere yet every year the earths forests, prairies, jungles, and vast algae farms soaked up about 213 billion tons leaving a safety margin of around 3 billion tons a year, enough to sponge up any extra CO2 emissions produced by, say, a forest fire, a volcano or a pre-industrial era chimney.
Fast forward to 1500 and this begins to change: Demand for fire and agricultural land meant forests were cut back and so the earths ability to absorb the CO2 declined. Also, our demand for energy led to the industrial revolution and we started to burn hydrocarbons. Essentially we have thrown the equilibrium out.
Currently, we are responsible for emitting approximately 6.3 billion tons of Carbon a year 3.3 billion more than the buffer referred to in the quote above, and atmospheric concentrations have began climbing and are now at 370 parts per million.
So, we got into a discussion about how natural processes and how they create carbon dioxide, and if its produced naturally, why is it such a big deal if we are emitting it too. It is natural after all?
This is true. In order to address this point, I must admit plagiarism from a book I have read called The End of Oil by Paul Roberts, which I recommend reading.
Earths atmosphere was at one stage almost all CO2. Over time, this CO2 was soaked up through carbon sinks (green plants and seawater). As plants create Oxygen, this ended up creating conditions more conducive to us being here. However, capture of Carbon by plants is temporary as when the plant dies, is burned, or gets eaten the Carbon can be released into the atmosphere as Carbon Dioxide (or in the case of eaten Methane from farting cows). The Carbon Doixide then hangs around until it is captured again which can sometimes be rather a long process. There is longer term sequestration though in the form of limestone, shale and Hydrocarbons.
Approximately 500 years ago, the carbon cycle of capture and release was close to equilibrium. The number of CO2 molecules in the air was about 270 parts per million and for each molecule of CO2 emitted (decomposition of plants or fire), one molecule would be absorbed. The book referred to above states:
The carbon cycle was running slightly ahead of the game: every year the earths natural processes were released some 210 billion tons of CO2 into the atmosphere yet every year the earths forests, prairies, jungles, and vast algae farms soaked up about 213 billion tons leaving a safety margin of around 3 billion tons a year, enough to sponge up any extra CO2 emissions produced by, say, a forest fire, a volcano or a pre-industrial era chimney.
Fast forward to 1500 and this begins to change: Demand for fire and agricultural land meant forests were cut back and so the earths ability to absorb the CO2 declined. Also, our demand for energy led to the industrial revolution and we started to burn hydrocarbons. Essentially we have thrown the equilibrium out.
Currently, we are responsible for emitting approximately 6.3 billion tons of Carbon a year 3.3 billion more than the buffer referred to in the quote above, and atmospheric concentrations have began climbing and are now at 370 parts per million.
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