A science lesson

The oxygen (O2) cycle requires carbon dioxide (CO2) to work. Some simplifications will be used to make this understandable.

Humans require oxygen to survive. Trees require carbon dioxide to survive. CO2 is tree food. The earth’s atmosphere contains about 20% oxygen (a lot) and 1/25 of 1% (400 ppm) carbon dioxide (very little).

Trees take in the scarce CO2 gas; they keep the C (carbon) and release the O2 gas. Trees are largely made of carbon in long molecular chains (solid or wood). A fully loaded log truck can carry 50 tons of timber or carbon, aka “long-chain carbon” (wood).

Each pound of CO2 (carbon dioxide) has 0.73 pounds of O2 and 0.27 pounds of C (carbon).

It takes 183 tons of CO2 to make 50 tons of logs. Each timber harvest requires many truck loads to get the job done. Young replanted forests require even more food, or CO2, per acre.

Forests desperately need tree food or the scarce, essential, atmospheric gas CO2 to grow and thrive.

If the politicians and mainstream media can convince the general public that men have menstrual periods and give birth, convincing them that humans are destroying the planet by using fossil fuels should be as easy as falling off a log truck.

Karl Spees

Port Angeles