Today’s Guest Writer is: Mark A. Korodan
Is carbon dioxide a potentially dangerous pollutant or just a harmless compound found in animal breath and vehicle exhaust? If one exhales in ambient temperatures below 40oF, what is visible is a combination of water vapor and CO2. The conversion of hydrocarbon fuels, coal, or sugar into energy results in the same byproducts: water vapor and CO2. These byproducts are the first two reactants in the process of photosynthesis. Life could not exist without them. In the following paragraphs I will explain why this is true.
The Earth’s atmosphere is a mixture of gases. Nitrogen makes up the greatest portion at 78%. Next is oxygen at 21%. Argon makes up a little less than one percent. Carbon dioxide, a colorless, odorless gas, makes up only 400ppm (parts per million) or four tenths of one percent of the earth’s atmosphere. From less than one percent of atmospheric CO2, all life has been, and continues to be, created. Almost everything you see, feel, eat, or wear was once CO2.
It is popular today to label carbon dioxide a “greenhouse” gas to give it a negative connotation. It is true, CO2 is a greenhouse gas, but not in the sense you are led to believe. Commercial plant growers purchase thousands of dollars worth of CO2 in order to release the gas into greenhouses and thus promote plant growth. The naturally occurring level of CO2 (400ppm) is far below the optimal concentration for plant growth which is around 1500ppm.
The increase in global CO2 emissions due to human activity has resulted in the “greening of the earth”. This greening of the earth has been documented by NASA via satellite imagery with an estimated 31% (plus or minus 4%) increase in global biomass. If CO2 is the sole human agent causing “global warming”, it has only resulted in a 2.2 degree change in the last 300 years. The resulting increase in global biomass far outweighs CO2’s alleged contribution to rising global temperatures.
It is more accurate to refer to plants and animals as carbon dioxide based rather than carbon based life forms. Carbon dioxide, the very gas we exhale, and which is so vitally important to plant growth, should never be referred to as a pollutant. I find it very interesting that the Creator chose to use a colorless, odorless, minor component (by percentage) of atmospheric gas to create all life. He designed the process we call photosynthesis, by which plants “fix” carbon dioxide into the carbohydrates found in all living organisms. All that is necessary to facilitate the process is CO2 plus water, and sunlight as an energy source. This synthesis occurs in the chloroplasts of plants which are at the very beginning of the food chain. This is the reason why plants were created before the animals. It’s easy to see why life is referred to as a miracle.