[AtmaStorm]

I'm new around here, but not new to the whole oil problem.
It has occured to me recently that as we resume restoring an ancient carbon cycle (oil), it takes a great deal of oxygen to combust all that fuel.
I've heard several articles stating O2 content in the air (As low a 7% and as high as 23%) but what bothers me is how much of an impact burning fuel will have on O2 content on the air. I know that trees and other greenery restores the O2 back to the air, but I keep hearing about all the destruction with rain forests (Forests in general, actually) and wildfires.
We humans are biological combustion engines. We need O2.
But just how much O2 do we need?
Will we need to breath deeper to get the same amount O2 into our bloodstream 10 years from now?

It's my first post, btw .

[mekrob]

Ha, good question. I was just wondering this myself today, but forgot it when I got to the boards. I imagine that it does have a pretty big effect on our lungs. People always talk about the destruction of the rainforests for being the reason that so many now have asthma, but what about the O2 that we burn up with combustion? I'm sure that plays as great a role as the rainforest catastrophe.

For the short term, it has definately affected, at least somewhat, the number of people with asthma. Long term though, there could be a pretty big problem with declining life spans, severe asthma on a mass scale, respiratory problems, etc (not a med student).

[Carlhole]

Most of the earth's oxygen is produced by ocean plankton.

A few years ago, I watched a program on Discovery about a science experiment where pharmaceutical grade iron was released into the ocean behind a boat. This created huge blooms of plankton which require iron to reproduce and thrive. Apparently iron is gold to tiny sea creatures.

I can't remember all the details but the point of the experiment was to determine if the practice of releasing such iron into the oceans could be used to decrease CO2 in the atmosphere, increase O2 and/or increase the ocean's food supply.

Apparently, the experiment had a positive outcome and I seem to remember that the chief scientist had calculated that releasing 8,000 tons of iron into the oceans would significantly impact atmospheric CO2 levels.

However, I've never heard anything more about it.

[AtmaStorm]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Carlhole', 'M')ost of the earth's oxygen is produced by ocean plankton.

A few years ago, I watched a program on Discovery about a science experiment where pharmaceutical grade iron was released into the ocean behind a boat. This created huge blooms of plankton which require iron to reproduce and thrive. Apparently iron is gold to tiny sea creatures.

I can't remember all the details but the point of the experiment was to determine if the practice of releasing such iron into the oceans could be used to decrease CO2 in the atmosphere, increase O2 and/or increase the ocean's food supply.

Apparently, the experiment had a positive outcome and I seem to remember that the chief scientist had calculated that releasing 8,000 tons of iron into the oceans would significantly impact atmospheric CO2 levels.

However, I've never heard anything more about it.