Breathless

Have you ever wondered how much breathable air is on Earth? And if we will ever run out? Our atmosphere is paper-thin relative to a basketball, and we use its oxygen to power internal combustion engines, like planes, trains and automobiles, and there is a 60% chance that the electricity you are using to read this post came from fossil fuels combined with oxygen.

I calculate how much oxygen a tree breathes and how much excess oxygen a tree produces in three different ways. Spoiler alert: It’s not a lot.

Ten reasons why we might be measuring oxygen in the atmosphere wrong. And how global oxygen depletion may be a hidden driver of climate change.

I demonstrate how to calculate the mass of oxygen in the atmosphere. And I talk about ten reasons why the accepted values may be wrong.

What if the driver of climate change is NOT carbon dioxide but oxygen depletion? See the math to compare CO2 emissions to oxygen burned.

There are many ways oxygen is burned/consumed/oxidized. It is a very reactive element. We highlight the major natural causes, like: respiration, decomposition, forest fires, rust and more.

This graph illustrates the exponential growth of the human race and the consumption of non-renewable resources. The question isn’t if the population will stop growing/consuming, but when?

We are all aware of our reliance on fossil fuels and their byproduct of greenhouse gases and poisons. But have you ever wondered about the oxygen needed to burn the fuel?

As mankind burns more and more fuel, we are also burning more and more oxygen. Simultaneously, the Earth’s ecosystem is being destroyed. At what point does the Earth reach a tipping point? And, how long before we run out of air to breathe?