Explore

The third step to living the life of your dreams is exploring, actually doing it, living your dream, sharing your adventure, getting support and inspiring others. This may be the hardest step, but it is also the step I recommend people just go out and do.

The Big Dipper rises over El Capitan. Tiny dots of light on El Capitan white and orange lights reveal the location of climbers at night.

Constellation of Climbers

Late at night in Yosemite, I mistook a cluster of lights for a constellation. They were actually climbers resting on El Capitan, suspended in hammocks above the valley floor. The real Big Dipper hung upside down overhead, turning the whole scene into something unforgettable.
How much oxygen a human breathes in one day. Infographic. This illustrates shows the surprising volume of oxygen used by a human. It compares the volume 551 liters of pure oxygen to the size of 8300 liters of air.

How much oxygen does a human breathe per day?

We often take breathing for granted, but our bodies process 8,300 liters of air every day to get the oxygen we need to survive. In this article, I show the math and compare this amount to how much a tree produces, and how much a car burns. This is part of my Global Oxygen Depletion series.
Phytoplankton bloom in the Barents Sea

The looming crisis of aquatic deoxygenation

Aquatic deoxygenation is accelerating worldwide, prompting scientists to propose it as a new planetary boundary. But the ocean’s 2% oxygen loss reveals an even bigger, overlooked threat: most of that oxygen outgasses into the atmosphere, masking the true rate of atmospheric decline. This article breaks down the science, the math, and why these hidden feedbacks may push Earth closer to an additional tipping point no one is talking about.
The Kon-Tiki is a balsa wood raft with a rectangular shape with a large square sail displaying a stylized face design. The raft is made of giant balsa logs tied together with rope on top of which sits a small cabin. The ship is decorated with various flags, including Norway, Peru and the United States.

Kon-Tiki — a book that changed my life

The first true adventure story I read was Kon-Tiki, and it was then that I realized I could go on my own adventure. I didn't know the Kon-Tiki still existed until I arrived in Norway.
Wispy tendrils of hot dust and gas glow brightly in this ultraviolet image of the Cygnus Loop Nebula, taken by NASA’s Galaxy Evolution Explorer.

Where does oxygen come from and where does it go?

Like me, you may surprised to learn that there will never be more oxygen on the Earth (or in our solar system) than there is right now. And when it comes to the breathable kind, there will be less and less oxygen until it is gone, though, luckily, that could take billions of years.
A leaf of basil back lit by the sun and full of colorful sparkles.

How to measure atmospheric oxygen depletion

This article is more for scientists and field researchers. A practical step forward in determining global oxygen depletion rates. A conclusion to decades of research.
A man wearing a gas mask watches television in a smoggy dystopian world.

How long before the Earth runs out of oxygen?

Have you ever wondered how much breathable air is on Earth, and if we'll ever run out? Our atmosphere is paper-thin relative to a basketball, and we use its oxygen to power internal combustion engines, create electricity, and manufacture products (cement, chemicals, plastic). Worse, we are destroying the plants that make more breathable oxygen.
How much oxygen does a tree produce?

How much oxygen do plants produce?

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.
The song of global oxygen depletion. Art by @Stevenmarkperry.

10 reasons why global oxygen measurements may be wrong

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.
A dramatic picture of water droplets (clouds). A metaphor for the mass of oxygen on Earth.

How much oxygen is in the atmosphere?

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.
Natural gas stove burning blue.

How much oxygen is consumed by fossil fuels per year?

What if the driver of climate change is NOT carbon dioxide but oxygen depletion? See the math to compare CO2 emissions to oxygen burned.
Global Oxygen Cycle sources and sinks. Illustration of oxygen being exchanged between land, sea, air and space, plus mankind's industry.

How much oxygen is consumed by the Earth per year by natural causes?

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.