New research shows oxygen depletion in the atmosphere has been accelerating since 2003, coinciding with the biofuels boom.
The Institute of Science in Society (SiS) which published the research says that climate policies that focus exclusively on carbon sequestration could be disastrous for all oxygen-breathing organisms including humans.
Sadly, action to tackle climate change mitigating policies are almost all aimed at reducing CO2 without considering other climate change factors.
Dr. Mae-Wan Ho who compiled the research, reports that within the past several years, scientists have found that oxygen (O2) in the atmosphere has been dropping, and at higher rates than just the amount that goes into the increase of CO2 from burning fossil fuels, some 2 to 4-times as much, and accelerating since 2002-2003. Simultaneously, oxygen levels in the world’s oceans have also been falling. Although the causes for the sudden acceleration in oxygen depletion are yet unclear, changes to natural ecosystems through deforestation and the expansion of agriculture could be playing a significant role.
It is becoming clear, the institute says, that reducing CO2 emissions is not enough; oxygen has its own dynamic and the rapid decline in atmospheric O2 must also be addressed. Although there is much more O2 than CO2 in the atmosphere – 20.95 percent or 460 ppm of O2 compared with around 380 ppm of CO2 – humans, all mammals, birds, frogs, butterfly, bees, and other air-breathing life-forms depend on this high level of oxygen for their well being.
In humans, failure of oxygen energy metabolism is the single most important risk factor for chronic diseases including cancer and death. ‘Oxygen deficiency’ is currently set at 19.5 percent in enclosed spaces for health and safety below that, fainting and death may result.
The simultaneous decrease in ocean oxygen not only threatens the survival of aerobic marine organisms, but is symptomatic of the slow-down in the ocean’s thermohaline ‘conveyor belt’ circulation system that transports heat from the tropics to the poles, overturns surface layers of into the deep and vice versa, redistributing nutrients and gases for the ocean biosphere, and regulating rainfall and temperatures on the landmasses. Changes to the thermohaline could wipe out the ocean’s phytoplankton that’s ultimately responsible for splitting water to regenerate oxygen for the entire biosphere, on land and in the sea.
Read the full article here: http://www.i-sis.org.uk/O2DroppingFasterThanCO2Rising.php