November 10, 2015
Don't break our food chain
Napoleon once said: "Only a foolish horse fights with his nose bag."
is the building block of life. "Organic" means "containing carbon,"
and every bit of plant and animal life is built around the carbon atom.
biggest long-term threat to abundant life on Earth is natural carbon
sequestration, especially during the recurring cold, dry eras, when
cooling oceans absorb huge amounts of carbon dioxide from the
atmosphere, and growing ice sheets capture most of its water.
Nature
is very efficient at carbon capture and burial. Enormous quantities of
carbon and hydrogen have been removed from past atmospheres and buried
under ancient sediments in extensive beds of coal, oil shale, limestone,
marble, dolomite, and magnesite, and in diffuse deposits of hydrocarbon
liquids and gases. The result is that the carbon dioxide level in
today's atmosphere is not far above the minimum needed to sustain plant
life (which is why nurserymen pump more carbon dioxide into their
greenhouses).
However,
in a rare piece of environmental serendipity, man's extraction and use
of coal, oil, gas, limestone, and dolomite for power generation,
transport, steel, cement, and fertilizers is recycling a tiny part of
this storehouse of buried carbon. For example, for every ton of coal
burned, 2.75 tons of carbon dioxide plant food plus one ton of fresh
water are added to the atmosphere, and producing one ton of cement
releases about one ton of carbon dioxide.
Every
ton of wheat grown needs a ton of carbon dioxide to get its carbon, and
other foods have similar needs. Carbon industries thus help to feed
all of Earth's plants and animals.
Industrial
use of carbon-bearing mineral resources also recycles valuable trace
elements like nitrogen, sulfur, and phosphorus, which are present in
variable amounts in coal, oil, and carbonates. Any of these byproduct
gases can be toxic if concentrated in confined spaces, and all of man's
activities can pollute crowded cities, but in the open atmosphere, plant
life often suffers because of a deficiency of these key nutrients.
Today we have many foolish people fighting their nose bag. They are weakening Earth's food chain with a war on carbon.
Carbonis the building block of life. "Organic" means "containing carbon,"
and every bit of plant and animal life is built around the carbon atom.
Carbon
enters Earth's cycle of life via plants, which extract it from the rare
and precious carbon dioxide plant food in the atmosphere. Living
things use this carbon, plus water, oxygen, and minerals, to create the
proteins, fats, carbohydrates, and skeletons they need.
enters Earth's cycle of life via plants, which extract it from the rare
and precious carbon dioxide plant food in the atmosphere. Living
things use this carbon, plus water, oxygen, and minerals, to create the
proteins, fats, carbohydrates, and skeletons they need.
Plant
growth responds quickly to the amount of carbon dioxide in the
atmosphere. However, today's levels are far below those that sustained
the abundant forests, grasslands, wetlands, herbivores, and carnivores
of past eras.
Thegrowth responds quickly to the amount of carbon dioxide in the
atmosphere. However, today's levels are far below those that sustained
the abundant forests, grasslands, wetlands, herbivores, and carnivores
of past eras.
biggest long-term threat to abundant life on Earth is natural carbon
sequestration, especially during the recurring cold, dry eras, when
cooling oceans absorb huge amounts of carbon dioxide from the
atmosphere, and growing ice sheets capture most of its water.
Nature
is very efficient at carbon capture and burial. Enormous quantities of
carbon and hydrogen have been removed from past atmospheres and buried
under ancient sediments in extensive beds of coal, oil shale, limestone,
marble, dolomite, and magnesite, and in diffuse deposits of hydrocarbon
liquids and gases. The result is that the carbon dioxide level in
today's atmosphere is not far above the minimum needed to sustain plant
life (which is why nurserymen pump more carbon dioxide into their
greenhouses).
However,
in a rare piece of environmental serendipity, man's extraction and use
of coal, oil, gas, limestone, and dolomite for power generation,
transport, steel, cement, and fertilizers is recycling a tiny part of
this storehouse of buried carbon. For example, for every ton of coal
burned, 2.75 tons of carbon dioxide plant food plus one ton of fresh
water are added to the atmosphere, and producing one ton of cement
releases about one ton of carbon dioxide.
Every
ton of wheat grown needs a ton of carbon dioxide to get its carbon, and
other foods have similar needs. Carbon industries thus help to feed
all of Earth's plants and animals.
Industrial
use of carbon-bearing mineral resources also recycles valuable trace
elements like nitrogen, sulfur, and phosphorus, which are present in
variable amounts in coal, oil, and carbonates. Any of these byproduct
gases can be toxic if concentrated in confined spaces, and all of man's
activities can pollute crowded cities, but in the open atmosphere, plant
life often suffers because of a deficiency of these key nutrients.
Those
waging a war on hydrocarbons and carbon dioxide are enemies of the
biosphere. Their foolish policies like carbon taxes, emissions trading,
and "Carbon Capture and Burial" are denying essential nutrients to the
food chain. The failed global warming forecasts show that these
policies will have no effect on climate, but they will reduce the
atmospheric supply of food nutrients and fresh water for all life on
Earth.
waging a war on hydrocarbons and carbon dioxide are enemies of the
biosphere. Their foolish policies like carbon taxes, emissions trading,
and "Carbon Capture and Burial" are denying essential nutrients to the
food chain. The failed global warming forecasts show that these
policies will have no effect on climate, but they will reduce the
atmospheric supply of food nutrients and fresh water for all life on
Earth.
Life is a carbon cycle – don't break the food chain.
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