By Ranil Senanayake –

Dr Ranil Senanayake

Continued from yesterday….

Oxygen is the second most abundant substance on earth, but only four percent of it or 1.2 x 10 ¹⁵   is found in the atmosphere and in living things. This component cycles through the biological system in about four thousand years. The total amount of atmospheric oxygen is maintained at about 21 % volume constantly, by the action of plants and the phytoplankton of the oceans.  All the Oxygen in our atmosphere present has originated from some plant or green microorganism.

Normally, the Oxygen volume is about 21.9% globally, this level of concentration is critical to all of humanity and negative effects begin to be felt if its drops below 19% thinking and attention becomes impaired, as the levels drop to 16 % there is reduced coordination, decreased ability for strenuous work, at 14% Poor judgment, faulty coordination, abnormal fatigue upon exertion, emotional upset cardiac stress. 10-12% Very poor judgment and coordination, impaired respiration heart damage, nausea, fainting, death.

The current global concentration is about 21%, however this figure often dips to 19% over impacted areas and is down to 12%-17% over some. Cities.  In cities with many trees such as in Alabama U.S.A it is 22% -19%. In cities with very low greenery and heavy urbanization such as: Mexico City it is 17% – 14%. As many will point out there is still a huge stock of Oxygen in the atmosphere. But the trends are disturbing. The figure below shows the decline of Oxygen concentration globally, but the disturbing bit is how closely it matches the rise in Carbon Dioxide concentration. This Oxygen not only supports a human population that uses about 6-7 billion tons per year to breathe, but also supports all of industry, shipping aviation and land travel and the only thing that produces Oxygen are the green matter in vegetation.  We use this resource without one penny’s worth of investment in the producer of Oxygen.

In the last article the ‘fossil subsidy’ extended to fossil fuels, includes the cost of emitting NFOC’s (Newly Formed Oxides of Carbon) and NFW (newly Formed Water) was discussed. These new destabilizing compounds that mimic natural chemicals are adding greatly to the forces that drive climate change. But the greater tragedy is that these compounds are formed by using up the natural Oxygen stock of the world, Oxygen, which if nor replenished will rob the air that we will need to maintain our health.

To understand the real nature of what is being done to us, the generalized chemical formula to describe the burning of fossil fuels is very clear. So much so that it could well be termed the ‘Satanic Formula’. It reads thus:

CH4f + 2O2l  nCO2 + nH2O + energy (heat)

f = fossil, l = living, n = new to the atmosphere

Meaning that A molecule of fossil hydrocarbon, containing fossil Carbon and fossil Hydrogen (f) that never belonged in the atmosphere. I.e. they were never in the air always in rocks, are combined with biologically derived Oxygen (l) to produce, the destabilizing new gasses (n) into the atmosphere, it tends to lock up the biologically derived Oxygen away from living things. All these changes  are created for the production of heat to dive our motors. The Poet Blake when he wrote of the  “dark Satanic Mills” of the Industrial Revolution, may not have known, but he very clearly pointed to the life destroying operation of the Satanic Formula.

Oxygen is a primary material formed through billions of years of the operation of life, it is replenished on a small scale by photosynthesis but remains a primary material. Extracting primary materials is an activity that is termed mining. “This includes extraction of any non-renewable resource such as petroleum, natural gas, or even water“.

The blueness of the sky is the result of sunlight scattered by tiny oxygen and nitrogen molecules scatter short-wavelength light, such blue and violet light. As extracting primary materials is mining. Will those who mine our blue skies for their profits, think a little about the effects of their mining and invest in assisting the replenishment of that Oxygen and keep our blue skies? Applying the Satanic Formula for development is destroying everyone’s future.  Instead of mining that ancient buffer of Oxygen can we not look at profiting from the supply of Ecosystem Service, Oxygen in particular, as we invest in massive re-vegetation programs, to compensate for that huge use so critically important to human industry and human life ?