You global warming dopes don't drink soda or beer do you?

Question

Because in the US alone, carbonated beverages produced 6000 million tons of CO2 last year. How come nobodys bellyaching about that? What, it's fine to sound like an environmentalist until you might have to sacrafice something????? What could possibly justify carbonated beverages if CO2 is such a naughty molecule? Maybe we aren't getting all the truth? Maybe Uncle Al can't do without a Diet Coke? Or somebody owns stock? Or maybe, just MAYBE, Global Warming has nothing to do with humans or our CO2???? HHHHmmmmmm????

Hotline: HeraldOnline.com
In 2003, 467 billion liters of soft drinks were consumed globally. ... The carbonation CO2 emissions in the U.S. in 2005 were about 6008.6 million metric tons. ...
www.heraldonline.com/ stories/2007/05/02/column.hotline.sto - May 28, 2007 - Similar pages

Answer 1

First, I seriously doubt your statistics are accurate. Second, the CO2 in carbonated beverages is super saturated so unless you are heating or adding salt to your drink before you consume it then you are ingesting the majority of the CO2 not releasing it into the atmosphere. Third, humans already produce CO2 every time they release a breath no one is suggesting we can stop all forms of CO2 release. Forth, CO2 in the atmosphere has risen 37.77% above the pre-industrial average, that is a historically large and unprecedented change.

EDIT: I don't think you read that correctly 6008.6 million metric tons of carbon dioxide is emitted annually by the United States - this is a total of all CO2 emissions not the amount from carbonated beverages.

Answer 2

I would love to hear what your source is. I've never heard anyone say that all CO2 is evil, simply that which winds up getting released into the atmosphere. While I'm sure that some of it is polluting the environment, most of the toxins from carbonated beverages wind up in our own bodies. I think that it is much more productive to try to concentrate on fixing the problems with our environment, rather than attacking the "global warming dopes."

Answer 3

What's your point? I don't drink carbonated beverages. Some people do. Does that fact not allow them to be environmentalists? I breathe out carbon dioxide each and every day so is it pointless for me to keep even trying to help the environment?

Uncle Al can't do without a Diet Coke? Somebody owns stock? Are these just random (and seemingly nonsensical) assumptions/assertions? Where is the connection between [the US drank a lot of carbonated beverages last year] and [global warming has nothing to do with humans or carbon dioxide]?

Answer 4

I know you "skeptics" hate to provide evidence because it will bust your bubble, so you might not want to read on.

There's approximately 2-3 grams of C02 in a large carbonated cola. Source:

http://www.science-house.org/CO2/activities/co2/soda.html

Let's just assume that on average, each American drinks one such large carbonated beverage per day. We'll call that 2.5 grams of CO2 per day per person. Multiplying that by the US population (~300 million) and the number of days in a year (365) and the number of tons per gram (1/907184.74) we get a total of (drumroll):

~300,000 tons of CO2 from carbonated beverage drinking in the US each year, assuming all the CO2 in every beverage is released into the atmosphere (a point has been made below by ecogeek that much is ingested).

Granted that was a bit of a rough estimate (probably on the high side), but your claim (6 billion tons) is off by a factor of 20,000, or 4 orders of magnitude, or 2 million percent. That's pretty ridiculous, you have to admit.

But I'm sure the global warming skeptics won't be convinced by this reality. They never are.

Answer 5

buddy co2 is produced by tons of stuff. the objective isn't to stop doing everthing but limit the amount of co2. co2 is important and we need it or the earth would be too cold to live in. you're not supposed to stop it all together. Global warming experts are just asking for us to minimilize the amount we create. You shouldn't stop drinking soda or beer, instead the companies that create soda and beer, which are producing this massive amount, need to find techniques to limit the amount they create in factories. Unless you're talking about the co2 created in your stomach, in which case your a fool because that doesnt effect global warming, only your stomach.There have been plenty of proposals on how to limit the amount factories create.

Global Warming is only a controversal issue to politicans and idiots. More then 90 percent of environment/ecological experts agree that the massive amount of c2 produced is warming the earth. We know the greenhouse gases warm the earth. it's what makes it a place we can live it. it only makes sense that massive amounts of it would create too much heat. common sense really. Even George Bush agrees (with the aide of the whitehouses own scientists.) that this is the cause of global warming. He just disagrees on the severity of it.

But lets say you don't agree with it. The fact still remains the earth is getting warming and causing lots of problems. No one disagrees with that. We have to stop it somehow or we are in big trouble later on. Since almost all scientists agree that co2 production is the problem.... wether you agree or not, shouldn't we atleast try to limit our intake? even if you don't agree. It doesnt kill you to unplug phone charger when its not in use. There are so many little things you can do to help that don't change much in your daily life. If it is in the smallest amount possible that Co2 is the cause, why not try to do these little things and quit being so stubborn.

Answer 6

You got your facts wrong. The US alone produced 6,000 million tons of CO2 from burning fossil fuel, not from making carbonated drinks. Anyway, the CO2 in carbonated drinks is frequently produced by taking it out of the air, so it isn't adding CO2 to the air, just recycling it.

Answer 7

This has been asked before, perhaps you are asking to promote global warming skepticism?
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070519233118AAVIhJq

Beer is carbonated with the CO2 produced by the yeast, from fermenting sugars, made with pure sunlight.

Soda can be made with fossil fuel CO2, but the effect is small compared to motor vehicle emissions.

Humans are causing rising CO2 in the atmosphere. Skeptics are disagreeing with common sense. Don't change the atmosphere if you don't know what will happen.

Answer 8

Since the CO2 in carbonated beverages is extracted from the air and eventually returned to it "scented" the net effect on Global Warming is zero.

You can climb down off your soapbox now.

I drink VERY little soda. But it isn't because of the CO2 in it ... it is because of the 6 heaping spoonfuls of sugar in it which in turn will ferment in your gut and produce CO2.

"If you are going to bellyache about CO2 in your belly, at least get your facts straight!"
.

Answer 9

We all need have a little common sense. Global warming is true, but it is being blown way out of perportion. If we really start talking about CO2 emissions lets ban pop, kill all the elephants, no more camp fires. Let's be rational. We have to do what we can to protect the environment, but I want to still have my head on my neck while doing so.

Answer 10

I stopped drinking soda over 6 months ago. It's not good for you besides the CO2 thing.