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So you believe that carbon dioxide -- which will be used by plants to generate oxygen -- is a greater threat to the environment than toxic metals, which will ta

by k33n 5y ago

So you believe that carbon dioxide -- which will be used by plants to generate oxygen -- is a greater threat to the environment than toxic metals, which will take millions of years to dissipate? Something seems off...

pfdietz 5y ago
Yes, CO2 is currently a much larger threat.
- k33n 5y ago
  Negative.
pertymcpert 5y ago
Plants don't absorb CO2 to get oxygen, they absorb it to get carbon. And what do you think happens to the plants afterwards? Do they store the carbon forever? What happens when they die?
- morpheos137 5y ago
  He didn't say "get" oxygen. He said make oxygen. Yeah plants do ingest CO2 + H2O to make oxygen via photosynthesis. Oxygen is arguably a more toxic gas than CO2. It causes fires and oxidation. Dose make the poison. All aerobic metabolising organism exhale CO2. They have been for billions of years. The sky hasn't fallen. Some how I doubt it will from one species of animal burning fossils for a few tens of decades.
  - pertymcpert 5y ago
    First of all, the purpose of photosynthesis is primarily for obtaining energy via carbon. Oxygen by itself is no use. Secondly, not all of the oxygen that a plant uses comes from photosynthesis. Some of it can be absorbed from water in the roots, and some is absorbed from the air itself between cells. The amount varies from species to species. More importantly, you've completely missed the bigger point. Carbon has been sequestered from the atmosphere over millions of years. Now we are releasing that carbon at a high rate over a few decades. The balance is being changed at an extremely fast rate, in a blink of a geological eye. So.... the OP originally tried to justify fossil fuels on the basis that plants will just absorb it. Can you answer my question to them? Where does that carbon go once a plant has absorbed it? Ok, so let me cut to the chase. Plants store the carbon. Plants eventually die. Carbon is mostly released back into the atmosphere either indirectly or directly. So increased plant sequestration is only a temporarily store, it can't help us fix the carbon issue permanently.
Dylan16807 5y ago
The toxic metals don't spread through the air.

by k33n 5y ago

pfdietz 5y ago

Yes, CO2 is currently a much larger threat.

k33n 5y ago
Negative.

pertymcpert 5y ago

Plants don't absorb CO2 to get oxygen, they absorb it to get carbon. And what do you think happens to the plants afterwards? Do they store the carbon forever? What happens when they die?

morpheos137 5y ago
He didn't say "get" oxygen. He said make oxygen. Yeah plants do ingest CO2 + H2O to make oxygen via photosynthesis. Oxygen is arguably a more toxic gas than CO2. It causes fires and oxidation. Dose make the poison. All aerobic metabolising organism exhale CO2. They have been for billions of years. The sky hasn't fallen. Some how I doubt it will from one species of animal burning fossils for a few tens of decades.
- pertymcpert 5y ago
  First of all, the purpose of photosynthesis is primarily for obtaining energy via carbon. Oxygen by itself is no use. Secondly, not all of the oxygen that a plant uses comes from photosynthesis. Some of it can be absorbed from water in the roots, and some is absorbed from the air itself between cells. The amount varies from species to species. More importantly, you've completely missed the bigger point. Carbon has been sequestered from the atmosphere over millions of years. Now we are releasing that carbon at a high rate over a few decades. The balance is being changed at an extremely fast rate, in a blink of a geological eye. So.... the OP originally tried to justify fossil fuels on the basis that plants will just absorb it. Can you answer my question to them? Where does that carbon go once a plant has absorbed it? Ok, so let me cut to the chase. Plants store the carbon. Plants eventually die. Carbon is mostly released back into the atmosphere either indirectly or directly. So increased plant sequestration is only a temporarily store, it can't help us fix the carbon issue permanently.

Dylan16807 5y ago

The toxic metals don't spread through the air.