The Earth Shouldn't Have Oxygen
Channel: vlogbrothers
Date: 2019-08-30

A balanced carbon cycle produces as much CO2 as O2, and yet, there are 209,460 ppm of oxygen in the atmosphere and only 440 ppm of CO2 (up from the recent baseline of 275).

My first thought was that the CO2 is temporarily stored in vegetation, but the vegetative carbon sink doesn't store anywhere near enough CO2 to affect the O2 levels in the atmosphere. If we burned ALL THE VEGEATATION ON EARTH the oxygen concentration of the planet would drop by less than 1%. 

The CO2 storage of live vegetation is massively important for global warming, but it has no effect on our ability to breathe. 

SO WHY CAN WE BREATHE!? I got curious, so I made this video.

Thanks to this article for starting me on the path to making this video: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/science/no-the-amazon-fires-wont-deplete-the-earths-oxygen-supply-heres-why

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