UNCOMMON SENSE

    The sense behind global warming

    Victor M. Ponce


    THE GLOBAL BIOGEOCHEMISTRY

  • The oxygen in the Earth's atmosphere is due to plant photosynthesis.

  • Plant photosynthesis has taken place for about 2.7 billion years.

  • The concentration of oxygen in the atmosphere is 21%.

  • The carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is mostly due to animal respiration.

  • Animal respiration has taken place for about 600 million years.

  • The concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, at the beginning of the twentieth century (1900), was 0.029%.

    THE RATIOS

  • The ratio of oxygen to carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is R1, 1900 = 21/0.029 = 724.

  • The total floral biomass in the Earth is estimated as 1,250,000,000,000 tons. 1

  • The human biomass in the Earth is estimated as 250,000,000 tons.1

  • The total faunal biomass in the Earth is estimated as 1,450,000,000 tons.1

  • The ratio of floral to faunal biomass is R2 = 862.

  • The ratio of floral to faunal biomass in the Earth is proportional to the ratio of oxygen to carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere.

    R1 = oxygen mass / carbon dioxide mass  ∝  floral mass / faunal mass = R2

  • If the number of plants increases, both ratios increase.

  • If the number of animals increases, both ratios decrease.

    THE EXPERIMENT

  • Humans are now engaged in a global experiment with the quintessential prototype (the Earth).

  • We are increasing combustion by machines, effectively increasing the total number of equivalent animals.

  • Machines are artificial animals, because they produce carbon dioxide.

  • The concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, today (2011), is 0.0392%.

  • R1 is now at R1, 2010 = 21/0.0392 = 536.

  • The total number of humans in 2011 is 7,000,000,000.

  • The total number of equivalent humans, due to machine combustion, in terms of equivalent respiration, is 22,915,000,000.

  • The equivalent human biomass in the Earth in 2011 is 835,000,000 tons.

  • The equivalent total faunal biomass in the Earth in 2011 is estimated as 2,275,000,000 tons.

  • The equivalent ratio of floral to faunal biomass in 2011 is R2, 2010 = 549.

  • Both R1 and R2 decreased substantially and correspondingly from 1900 to 2011.

    THE FACTS

  • The Earth's atmosphere consists of two diatomic constituents, nitrogen (N2) and oxygen (O2), and several non-diatomic constituents, among them, carbon dioxide (CO2), water vapor (H2O), methane (CH4), and nitrous oxide (N2O).

  • The world's weather is controlled by the non-diatomic constituents of the air.

  • Due to machine combustion, carbon dioxide is the most anthropogenic of the air's non-diatomic constituents.

  • The world's weather is largely controlled by R1, which varies directly with R2.

  • Anthtropogenic activities are decreasing R2 and, therefore, R1.

    THE UNCOMMON SENSE

  • Global warming is directly related to the number of artificial animals, i.e., the number of machines, particularly those that are powered by nonrenewable fuels.

    1 Biomass totals are not intended to be precise; calculations work best when reflecting trends and changes.
    http://uncommonsense.sdsu.edu 110821