Will we all stop breathing to save the planet as all breathing animals expel carbon dioxide.and plants use it?

Question

are we missing something..???seems all carbon dioxide is made by breathing......SHOULD IT BE BANNED OR TAXED..?????

Answer 1

Surprisingly it makes a considerable difference where the carbon comes from.

There is a natural "carbon cycle" that recycles CO2. But it's a delicate balance and we're messing it up.

Look at this graph.

http://scrippsco2.ucsd.edu/graphics_gallery/mauna_loa_record/mlo_record.html

The little squiggles are nature doing its' thing. CO2 falls a bit during summer when plants are active, and rises during the winter. The huge increase is us, burning fossil fuels. The scientists can actually show that the increased CO2 in the air comes from burning fossil fuels by using "isotopic ratios" to identify that CO2. The natural carbon cycle buried carbon in fossil fuels over a very long time, little bit by little bit. We dig them up and burn them, real fast. That's a problem.

Another way to think about is where does the carbon in the CO2 we breath out come from? Our food, which can be traced back to plants, which took the CO2 out of the air just a little while ago.

Breathing good, digging up long buried carbon in fossil fuels bad.

Man is upsetting the balance of nature by burning fossil fuels. We need to fix that. Not by ending it totally (for example, airplanes are tough to do any other way), but by reducing it a lot.

Answer 2

Each person on the planet exhales 900g of carbon dioxide a day, an annual total of a little over 2 billion tons worldwide. This amount can be absorbed into the natural carbon cycle.

I would guess that the contribution that animals make is about the same as it's always been. We've killed off a whole load of some animals but at the same time have been breeding others, so this too falls within natural parameters.

It's not breathing that's the problem, it's the un-natural activities we perform that are causing the problem - manufacturing, fuel for transportation, power generation etc.

Answer 3

Not all the time. At night plants actually take in oxygen and give off CO2. That's because they are breaking down that sugar to get energy for growth and combining other elements, minerals, and chemicals for making flowers, fruit, seeds etc. They are doing the same thing in daylight too, but photosynthesis is so efficient that the plant uses up the carbon dioxide as it makes more sugar than it actually needs so there is an excess of oxygen, which is released.

Answer 4

Since taxing breathing involves the manufacture of complex breath-volume-reporting machines which would have to be worn at all times, and the manufacture of which would cause much pollution in itself, the simple solution is for all humans be required by law at a certain time to quit breathing.

This could be enforced by trained dog teams.

There would be a brief rise in the CO2 caused by the decay of all humans, and all animals dependent on them. But the existing plants and the ocean plankton would take care of this and the CO2 would drop fairly rapidly.

Of course, some plants might have problems breathing but it would all come to an equilibrium.

Why don't you take the initiative to present your idea world-wide and get the support of all right-thinking governments, so they will set a convenient date, maybe on this coming Christmas, when we all give a present to our Mother Earth?

Answer 5

Actually, we could end up with a CO2 deficit if we're not careful. Sea plankton takes up a lot of CO2 out of the air, and cycles it into the food chain. BUT any fishes that don't get eaten fall to the seafloor. They come down as 'snow', which is deposited forever more, until they are subducted into the mantle of the earth. Without that CO2. we will eventually fall into a PERMANENT Ice Age.

Answer 6

Hows this for an answer to Global warming.... take the melted water from the poles, pipe it to the Sahara, plant loads of plants and stuff, create a new rainforest, get loads more O2 to offset the CO2. Maybe shoot a cow also as they produce to much Methane. Genius

Answer 7

this question is very central to the real answers of environmental concern. We should all realize that it is natural for the immediate air temperature to rise when all 6 billions of the humans take a normal breath of air....it should be balanced with the planting and growth of new forests and greenery.

Answer 8

No all living matter gives off CO2 including plant life and the oceans.

Answer 9

The excess CO2 should be removed and not taxed or bought on the trading boards by people given carbon game cards.

Answer 10

all carbon dioxide is not made by breathing, some of it is. if that was the only way it was created, we wouldn't even consider it a problem.