Human Breathing: More Harmful to the Environment Than Carbon Dioxide, Say Scientists

Scientists say that the methane and nitrous oxide in human breathing are more harmful to the environment than carbon dioxide

Human breathing contributes to global warming, according to a study published Wednesday in PLoS One. The authors argue that the contribution of human breathing to climate change is still underestimated and requires further research.

After measuring the gas composition of the breath of 328 study participants, scientists concluded that human breath contained 0.05% of the methane emitted in the UK and 0.1% of nitrous oxide. These two gases “have a much higher global warming potential than carbon dioxide”- notes the study.

“Human breath may contain trace amounts of methane (CH4) and high concentrations of nitrous oxide (N2O), which contribute to global warming” – wrote scientists led by atmospheric physicist Nicholas Cowan from the UK Center for Ecology and Hydrology. “We urge caution in assuming that emissions caused by human activities are negligible“

Although Cowan explains that “The contribution of CO2 from human breath to climate change is essentially zero” because plants absorb almost all the carbon dioxide humans exhale, the remaining two gases remain in the atmosphere. Methane retains 80 times more heat than carbon dioxide in the first 20 years of its existence in the atmosphere, although this strength decreases over time.

A detailed analysis of the diets of people in the study did not show that meat eaters produced more gas. Although all subjects exhaled nitrous oxide, only 31% exhaled methane. These people, called “methane producer” in the article, were most likely to be women over 30, although researchers could not determine why this was the case.

The study’s authors cautioned that their study only looked at breathing and called for more research into the overall picture of human gas emissions, saying the study could reveal more about “the impact of population aging and changes in dietary patterns” on this planet.

In recent years, environmental activists have focused on methane emissions from cows, whose herbivorous diets are broken down by methane-producing bacteria in their stomachs. Policymakers’ focus on methane-tainted burps and farts has become the subject of parody by climate change skeptics.

The UK has legally committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 78% by 2035 compared to 1990. Its population is strongly encouraged to reduce meat consumption to meet this target, with some estimates suggesting that the majority of global greenhouse gas emissions come from livestock farming. . . for meat at the level of 15%. However, the researchers behind Wednesday’s study suggest that switching to a high-fiber vegetarian diet could potentially result in greater emissions of methane and nitrous oxide, which they call “impurity replacement”

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2023-12-17 04:59:27
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