Things People Don't Understand: Carbon Dioxide Pt 1

If you are like me you are sick of hearing about your carbon footprint. It kind of epitimizes the douchiness that I hate in environmentalists. Its passive-aggressive and gets thrown around abundantly in accusatory conversation.


And, of course, the self-righteousness leads douches on the flip side of the coin to make t-shirts.

So carbon is evil right? No, wait, we're carbon based lifeforms. So Its good, right? But there's tons of it in the air (but its in the air, meaning there is no weight... right?).

Lets start at the beginning. People discovered the power of this magical reaction, combustion. Combustion provides a huge amount of our power in almost all vehicles of any kind and from many power plants. Scientifically, in a "perfect" combustion reaction, hydrogen (H2) and oxygen (O2) come together and make water vapour, and some sweet sweet energy.

2(H2) + O2 -> 2(H2O)g + heat

Even environmentalists love this reaction, since it makes more water and we can always use more water. But, in the real world, its hard to make hydrogen and oxygen just react (One would hope that hydrogen and oxygen don't just react, cause we're breathing it right now.).

So in the real world the equation is the much dirtier and more confusing:

CH₄ + 2O₂ + 7.52N₂ → CO₂ + 2H₂O + 7.52N₂ + heat

Its got CH4, our gas, burning up with a little help from our friend nitrogen. But, gasp, we get CO2. And because we do a lot of driving and power consuming, there's a lot of CO2 in the air.



But if you listen to the skeptics, CO2 is natural, it is billowed up into the air from volcanos, bogs, cows, our mouths. And trees love it, they take the energy from it, with a little help from the sun, and turn it back into the O2 that we need.

Please deal with the following misinformation video:



Yes, CO2 is a naturally occuring substance, but so is shit. When you shit on the toilet, you are getting rid of what your body doesn't need and cannot use. When you breathe out, you are getting rid of the air that your body doesn't need or want to use. CO2 is shit from your mouth.

And guess what? The naturally occurring substance of shit is bad for you. You can get seriously sick from rivers where overpopulation and poverty has left no alternative. And you'd be hard pressed to find someone who is comfortable stepping into the shit they produce.



But of course, plants love CO2... well, yeah, they also love shit. Its fertilizer. Now unfortunately our shit is so dirty that it would have to be well treated before plants can actually use it, but guess what? That's the same for the gas we burn. Its pretty dirty shit, and we're pumpin all kinds of pollutants into the air.

I don't know about you, but I don't love breathing in shit.