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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Wharf Rat who wrote (31888)	6/8/2002 3:34:40 PM
From: Maurice Winn	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

<Too much CO2 will kill you; look at the submarine movies. As CO2 builds up in the air, and hence the blood, (or in patients with chronic lung disease, just in the blood 'cuz they can't ventilate well enuf), respirations initially increase, then as CO2 gets to around 6-7%, acts as an anesthetic respiratory depressant, and can lead to death without intervention.> Wharfie, you are the victim of a commonly promulgated urban myth. Well, two actually. You say you believe in the Greenhouse theory in the way people believe in the Hale Bopp Nike cult. I've explained why that greenhouse cult is wrong. Check out your cult's leaders by reading my rant and telling me where it is wrong. If you can't show fault, you would do well to consider the possibility that your cult leaders have felonious intent by misleading you to believe in them. Why do you believe in the Greenhouse theory? Because it's in the news media a lot or that scientists in white coats seriously say that it's really scary and we'll turn to a runaway hothouse like Venus? Or do you trust some governments, who are notoriously ignorant and wrong and do silly things and pander to voting groups? Check your premises. You are plain wrong, but in good company, with your belief about carbon dioxide being dangerously poisonous. Somehow, that idea has become popular, in the same way that plastic bags have warnings printed on them about asphyxia for no reason. Starting with the plastic bags, the reason for the warnings is that the very fine sticky plastics developed many years ago now, could cling to things really well. Rumour has it that children would asphyxiate because they'd put their head in the plastic bag, inhale, get the plastic film blocking their nostrils and mouth, and be unable to get the damn thing off. Now, people worry about any plastic bag and there seems general fear about plastic in landfill and anywhere else. Nearly all plastics are not in the slightest sticky and are no more dangerous than a paper bag [less so in that people can see through a plastic bag if they have it over their head, so they are less likely to bump into things]. Has there ever actually been an accidental self-suffocation with a plastic bag? I doubt it. If so, it would be one case, thirty years ago, with some other factor involved other than just the sticky plastic. You shouldn't get your science from submarine movies or any movies. There really aren't light sabres and people can't really jump 50 metres over huge canyons or dodge 10 million bullets. Brains need oxygen. Carbon dioxide buildup is the warning signal our bodies give to breathe more, to reduce the CO2 levels. We don't bother breathing more just because we are dying from lack of oxygen. We think we are doing fine as long as our CO2 levels are low. We breathe to lower our carbon dioxide levels, which fortunately correlates well with getting more oxygen. The level of carbon dioxide in the air is vastly lower than a level which would be a problem for us and we will never get the CO2 air level high enough to affect our breathing rate, let alone cause any breathing problem. The fat which obese people carry causes more rapid breathing and consistently higher bloodstream carbon dioxide levels than any rise in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Fat people breathe more heavily because they are needing more oxygen to keep their physiological systems stable so they have constantly higher CO2 levels to drive them to breathe heavier than if they lose 20 kilograms [that's my theory anyway]. Try putting your head in a bag for a while and see what you do as your carbon dioxide levels build up. Pretty soon, you will be pulling the bag off and gasping for breath, but you won't die. Try holding your breath. If you can make yourself go unconscious from lack of oxygen, you will start breathing again on autopilot once your voluntary control of breathing is removed. The underlying problem with your worry about getting too much CO2 in the air is that plants strip it out and the more there is, the faster they'll grow and the more they'll absorb. We won't be able to fill the air past a certain point. Other sinks such as the oceans, which are pretty big, will also increase their absorption rate. We certainly won't have to breathe faster. Don't worry about CO2. CO2 is good. Trust me. You may even idolize me and join my cult if you like. I'll go as far as wearing a white coat with a funny hat to show I'm the head priest if that'll help. I should make a movie too. We could have some priestly ceremonies, incantations and mystical computer model mumbo jumbo for dramatic effect. Mqurice