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Does the Amazon provide 20% of our oxygen?

yadvindermalhi.org

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Re: Does the Amazon provide 20% of our oxygen?

#41

Post by didbsivdf »

marvin wrote: post #22
cm2187 wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But doesn't it regrow from the hashes?

From the ashes? Not if it's turned into a ranch! And I'm not qualified to answer what happens when you burn down an entire millenia-old ecosystem. Seems plausible that it might not go straight back to its old self in a human-relevant timeframe.

“Not if it's turned into a ranch!”

That’s not obvious to me. Most plants are C2 plants, but grass is a C4 so it captures sunlight more efficiently.

Not to say burning the Amazon isn’t a terrible idea.

Re: Does the Amazon provide 20% of our oxygen?

#42

Post by jdnenej »

RandomBacon wrote: post #13
thepangolino wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly. It’s highlights a real issue but completely misplaces mobilisation.

But then you get the people that say, "At least they're doing something ."

Well wtf can anyone really do about a disaster on the other side of the world.

Re: Does the Amazon provide 20% of our oxygen?

#43

Post by zests »

What do you do when people quote statistics like this in real life? I usually just sit there like an insincere fool and remain quiet or offer lukewarm agreement. I can't bring myself to tell them that I disagree because I don't want to be rude but at the same time my current system is not working.

Re: Does the Amazon provide 20% of our oxygen?

#44

Post by skosch »

alacombe wrote: post #38
Bjartr wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I heard the fires were up by 87% from last year, no matter the base rate, nearly double seems to qualify as "outside the average"

Not according to NASA... https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/145464/fires-in-bra...

That article is from over a week ago, and it cites http://www.globalfiredata.org/forecast.html#amazon, which has since been updated.

Indeed, people are burning more this year than they did in the past few years – any burning at all has always been unacceptable, but if the current spike is what it takes to finally create some international outrage and put pressure on Bolsonaro, then I'll gladly take it.

Re: Does the Amazon provide 20% of our oxygen?

#45

Post by icebraining »

skosch wrote: post #40
dev_dull wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You’re being downvoted, but it clearly is a political move. The fires aren’t even outside of the average and already countries are applying political pressure on the president. When the facts are detached from the narrative, it’s usually a political story.

False. The 2019 fires are way outside of the average: http://www.globalfiredata.org/forecast.html Also, what you call average is only the average over the past few years, which means: illegal loggers and ranchers burning the forest on purpose. The true long-term average is a healthy forest with very few fires.

Can you point out where that page supports that claim?

> only the average over the past few years

That only reinforces in the point; if the numbers changed from the average a few years ago, why the sudden massive response just now?

Re: Does the Amazon provide 20% of our oxygen?

#46

Post by mycall »

wcunning wrote: post #3

The basic gist of the article is found about 1/2 way in: "First, the phytoplankton in the oceans also photosynthesise [...] Therefore in terms of TOTAL global photosynthesis, photosynthesis in the Amazon contributes around 9%. [...] Second, a bigger point that is often missed is that the Amazon consumes about as much oxygen as it produces." This reminds me, as we should all be reminded on a regular basis, the bulk of…

O2/CO2 aside, the Amazon rainforest's biodiversity is unique and has been a source for medical resource. There is more at stake than just breathing.

Re: Does the Amazon provide 20% of our oxygen?

#47

Post by chrisco255 »

Misdicorl wrote: post #17
povertyworld wrote: post #15

I haven't been following this specific news story, but I remember from my environmental sociology class that fire prevention in forests eventually leads to unnatural states that are then prone to massive uncontainable fires. Have they been suppressing natural fire in this region for too long? If this fire is naturally burning, then isn't the best response to let it run its course unless human lives are threatened?

This is not true for rainforests afaik. There is no fire cycle like for the mountain forests of the US West

This is not true of the rainforests themselves, but the Amazon region is not 100% rainforest. It also has savannas and drier forests in parts of it (it's a massive region).

Re: Does the Amazon provide 20% of our oxygen?

#48

Post by Armisael16 »

didbsivdf wrote: post #41
marvin wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From the ashes? Not if it's turned into a ranch! And I'm not qualified to answer what happens when you burn down an entire millenia-old ecosystem. Seems plausible that it might not go straight back to its old self in a human-relevant timeframe.

“Not if it's turned into a ranch!” That’s not obvious to me. Most plants are C2 plants, but grass is a C4 so it captures sunlight more efficiently. Not to say burning the Amazon isn’t a terrible idea.

Plants pretty consistently are ~40-50% carbon by mass, so the amount of biomass on the ground is a fairly solid indicator of the amount of carbon sequestered. Unless the ranchers have a truly massive amount of hay at all times I don't see how a ranch can approach a forest.

Re: Does the Amazon provide 20% of our oxygen?

#49

Post by meerita »

molteanu wrote: post #8
wcunning wrote: post #3

The basic gist of the article is found about 1/2 way in: "First, the phytoplankton in the oceans also photosynthesise [...] Therefore in terms of TOTAL global photosynthesis, photosynthesis in the Amazon contributes around 9%. [...] Second, a bigger point that is often missed is that the Amazon consumes about as much oxygen as it produces." This reminds me, as we should all be reminded on a regular basis, the bulk of…

This is just another political play to oust Bolsonaro, the Brazil's president, from power. There have already been EU voices pushing for sanctions against Brazil and the Amazon fires are on the G7 agenda which brings a lot of negative press against the political body in Brazil. All the while central Africa is also ravaged by fires but you don't hear that in the news. Like most of what you hear in the big press, it co…

You're being downvoted and I also know why because it's 100% political. It's amazing that HN people downvote this and don't attach to the current evidence (the NASA report) which is 100% clear the fires aren't a new thing and there's no killing amazonia conspiracy from Bolsonaro.

Re: Does the Amazon provide 20% of our oxygen?

#50

Post by sabujp »

You know what, it really doesn't matter because the majority of people don't really care about and understand all of the other effects. People don't even understand global warming or care enough to do anything about it. Talking heads, pundits, and politicians should just inflate the numbers and say that it provides 50% of oxygen and that we'll all asphyxiate without it because the truth is that people won't care unless you make them scared enough to care. If the end goal is to save as much of the forest as possible then stretching the truth doesn't matter. How many lies have been told from the other side for decades to reduce environmental regulations?
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