How much CO2 does a person exhale per day as opposed to a car on one full tank of gas?

Question

Just wondering what the ratio is? Everyone in the media makes such a big deal about global warming and such and I just wanted to know if Al Gore thinks there should be a breathing tax or not!

Answer 1

Believe it or not, it actually makes a difference whether the CO2 is natural or comes from burning fossil fuels.  The CO2 you exhale comes from eating plants (or animals that ate plants) that extracted it from the air.  So it's not "extra".

There are a great many natural sources and sinks for carbon dioxide.  But the present global warming is (mostly) the result of man made CO2 from burning fossil fuels.

There is a natural "carbon cycle" that recycles CO2.  But it's a delicate balance and we're messing it up.

Look at this graph.

http://scrippsco2.ucsd.edu/graphics_gall...

The little squiggles are nature doing its' thing. CO2 falls a bit during summer when plants are active, and rises during the winter. The huge increase is us, burning fossil fuels (in addition to the shape of the graph, the increase numerically matches the increase in fossil fuel use). The scientists can actually show that the increased CO2 in the air comes from burning fossil fuels by using "isotopic ratios" to identify that CO2.  

The natural carbon cycle buried carbon in fossil fuels over a very long time, little bit by little bit. We dig them up and burn them, real fast.  That's a problem.

Man is upsetting the balance of nature.  We need to fix that.

Answer 2

GREAT ANSWER BOB!!!!!!! It makes me happy to see people share this kind of information...!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I just had to say that for my self.........Also that is a awesome question speak out take action and lets save our planet for our children and their children and so on>>>>>>>>>>>the co2 we are releasing is millions of years old and is being stored by earth where it belongs we are introducing this ancient co2 at a insane rate and it has no place to go!!!