Does the Amazon provide 20% of our oxygen? • Hacker News Board

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

#91

Post by refurb » Sun, Aug 25, 2019, 1:58 AM UTC

mehrdadn wrote: post #76

darkerside wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's 5 minutes of research if you know what you're looking for. It can be much more if you don't, and you don't know when and where to stop. BTW, that's kind of the entire point of a site like HN. Experts from different fields (and hobbyists and laypersons) get together and exchange knowledge. Sorry to go on about this, but I've been seeing too many responses saying to go Google things.

> It's 5 minutes of research if you know what you're looking for. It can be much more if you don't, and you don't know when and where to stop. I know nothing about the topic, but literally just Googled Drugs from the Amazon [1], and the very first example of the very first search result I came across was Quinine. [2] [1] https://www.google.com/search?source=hp&q=drugs+from+the+ama... [2] https://www.adventure-life.co…

That first google link is shit.

has been isolated the alkaloid d-turbocuarine, which is used to treat such diseases as multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease and other muscular disorders.

It’s a muscle paralyzing agent used in surgery. It’s not use in MS or Parkinson’s.

I wonder what else is wrong in the article.

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

#92

Post by crimsonalucard » Sun, Aug 25, 2019, 2:18 AM UTC

DenisM wrote: post #71

A few comments are saying that forests capture a lot of CO2. But how could that be? If a forest doesn't change over thousands of years it cannot be accumulating carbon in any significant quantity. Or else where would that material go? The Amazon trees are about as tall and wide today as they were 10,000 years ago, and only so many of them fit on a given area. If the amount of vegetation remains the same the only way…

https://wwf.panda.org/knowledge_hub/where_we_work/amazon/ama...

it's just less accessible but I'm pretty sure like any forest on the face of the earth, portions of dead animal and plant matter is getting sequestered into the ground while another portion is getting exhaled by animals eating the leaves or other animals eating the animals.

The stuff that's getting sequestered though is probably miniscule. At the timescale of our lifetime it may be negligible but I wouldn't know as I'm not an expert. Perhaps someone with the actual data can fill us in?

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

#93

Post by crimsonalucard » Sun, Aug 25, 2019, 2:19 AM UTC

justanothernoob wrote: post #74

DenisM wrote: post #71

A few comments are saying that forests capture a lot of CO2. But how could that be? If a forest doesn't change over thousands of years it cannot be accumulating carbon in any significant quantity. Or else where would that material go? The Amazon trees are about as tall and wide today as they were 10,000 years ago, and only so many of them fit on a given area. If the amount of vegetation remains the same the only way…

You aren't accounting for the trees being living, growing beings. Asking how they capture CO2 is kind of like asking how we grab oxygen- it's in the air, we use it to fuel our growth and stay alive, and then it's CO2 when it leaves our bodies. It's the reverse for trees, I don't know if any significant amount of solid carbon would need to accumulate, as it forms the wood and the varies trees that grow and die.

A forest of constant size is not growing and therefore not removing any carbon from the air is this persons argument.

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

#94

Post by m3kw9 » Sun, Aug 25, 2019, 2:21 AM UTC

Amazon sells oxygen canisters?

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

#95

Post by karmakaze » Sun, Aug 25, 2019, 2:27 AM UTC

majos wrote: post #33

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…

I don't quite get the claim behind the Gell-Mann effect. It assumes that because journalism about physics is inaccurate and oversimplified, journalism about everything else is too. But why should this be? Physics, and similar hard sciences, are deep and complex fields. There's plenty of math, jargon, and a long literature. Of course inaccurate simplifications happen when writing about it for a popular audience. Add i…

Any decent news report will of course have coverage of the literal facts, this will also be overshadowed by interpretation of the meaning of those facts. Any dry reporting which only present the facts without a hint as to how the reader should be reacting to those facts is unpopular and will be read by negligible few. It starts right from the headline that takes a view one way or the other. A number isn't presented without an adjective.

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

#96

Post by dvduval » Sun, Aug 25, 2019, 2:31 AM UTC

So far there have not been too many third-party merchants who have profited on selling oxygen, but once they do, Amazon will definitely move in and take on this part of the market as well.

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

#97

Post by zaroth » Sun, Aug 25, 2019, 2:43 AM UTC

Retric wrote: post #31

bad_user wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Netflix has a pretty cool series called "One Strange Rock". You should watch it, they explain the Amazon's role well in one episode. First of all oxygen is constant. Oxygen is currently not the problem. And it's a good thing that it's constant because we don't want more of it either. The problem with Amazon is that on Earth it's all interconnected and while there's plenty of room for failure, there is a tipping point…

There is no single tipping point. There are a vast number of different tipping points with different outcomes.

Which is to say, there is no tipping point?

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

#98

Post by zaroth » Sun, Aug 25, 2019, 2:45 AM UTC

DoreenMichele wrote: post #84

liability wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> In contrast, other newspaper topics like politics, sports, business, etc. are often literal reporting of what people do. I was once in a local paper for my participation in a sports team. Well, my picture was. The name given to me in the article and caption was fabricated. Such a name didn't even belong to anybody else in my school, let alone on the same team! I assume the 'reporter' was too drunk to remember my na…

I was interviewed via email while still homeless. They assumed I was male without asking, then just made up quotes. Because the interview was by email, I have a written record of what I actually said, so I know it was outright fabricated and not some kind of misheard/misunderstood thing. I sort of understand the misgendering. Most visible street people are male. But the fabricated quote made me feel like "They think…

Don't worry, they do the same thing to everyone, including the President. Making up quotes, that is.

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

#99

Post by DoreenMichele » Sun, Aug 25, 2019, 2:52 AM UTC

zaroth wrote: post #98

DoreenMichele wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was interviewed via email while still homeless. They assumed I was male without asking, then just made up quotes. Because the interview was by email, I have a written record of what I actually said, so I know it was outright fabricated and not some kind of misheard/misunderstood thing. I sort of understand the misgendering. Most visible street people are male. But the fabricated quote made me feel like "They think…

Don't worry, they do the same thing to everyone, including the President. Making up quotes, that is.

It's still shitty. General lack of ethics and honesty is not some moral high ground that sits above mere classism and contempt for the poor and presumed powerless.

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

#100

Post by DenisM » Sun, Aug 25, 2019, 2:53 AM UTC

crimsonalucard wrote: post #92

DenisM wrote: post #71

A few comments are saying that forests capture a lot of CO2. But how could that be? If a forest doesn't change over thousands of years it cannot be accumulating carbon in any significant quantity. Or else where would that material go? The Amazon trees are about as tall and wide today as they were 10,000 years ago, and only so many of them fit on a given area. If the amount of vegetation remains the same the only way…

https://wwf.panda.org/knowledge_hub/where_we_work/amazon/ama... it's just less accessible but I'm pretty sure like any forest on the face of the earth, portions of dead animal and plant matter is getting sequestered into the ground while another portion is getting exhaled by animals eating the leaves or other animals eating the animals. The stuff that's getting sequestered though is probably miniscule. At the timesca…

Even if a tiny amount was sequestered each year over the course of 55 million years there would be a huge pile of carbon there. But it isn’t there, is it?