The air we breath

[billwizzer]

How much air is left on the planet? with all the talk about carbon emmissions , fossil fuels.the rain forests , and such like what about air? we all need it and we all!! use it albeit for energy, transport. and of course to breath, We are running out of everthing else so why not air? There are 6 billion of us now so how long can it possibly last??

[wildwood]

The available 'air' to us will not run out in the near future, it is the quality that matters.
Carbon dioxide is produced by all life, even fungi.
Forests play an important part in absorbing the carbon dioxide and replenish the oxygen content.
The oceans also play an important part in air quality; it contains a lot more carbon dioxide then the air and slowly sucks it out of the air. However, where the oceans are warmer the carbon dioxide is released to the atmosphere instead so without forests in the tropical regions the breathable air will be getting worse, making the 'beings' that breath this more liable to all sorts of diseases.
The greenhouse gasses such as methane burbed by cows makes the hole in the protective ozone layer larger so warming up the oceans even more.

I know the global population increase is alarming. When I was at school it was 3 billion. I believe the misery experienced by African population now will slowly spread to even the more effluent societies as the food production shrinks. The previously 'silent' Asian nations are now major global players and the gigantic China has become the most resource hungry nation in the world. Ironically, we scorn at China's 'one child' policy but they have seen the world population crisis coming years ago.

[nightmare]

you did mean affluent, rather than effluent, societies, I hope, wildwood ?

[billwizzer]

Thanks wildwood for the answer but i wonder what is meant by near future? Nothing lasts forever! Have any detailed studies ever been done on this subject! Is there any way the air can be measured it i.e by a fall in over all pressure ect , we know at an higher altitude the air is rare , is it still the same as it was years ago ? Anybody have other thoughts ?

[wildwood]

nightmare, seeing what we have done to the planet in the last 100 years you may interpret that any way you want too.
billwizzer, I am not sure exactly what it is you want to know. The breathable air hasn't always been here. Billions of years ago all the air consisted of highly poisonous gases and it was not until primitive life evolved into algae that oxygen was produced as a byproduct of photosynthesis. This went on for many millions of years before there was enough oxygen content in the air to support the evolution of breathing animals.

[Ice.Maiden]

This is why it's important that we try to stop the destruction of woodland - and in particular, the rain forests which hold our eco system in delicate balance. Trees give off oxygen which we breathe in, and then we exhale carbon dioxide which in turn is used by the trees. Everytime a swathe is cutr across open land to make way for a new road, we're destroying the habitat of birds, animals and insects. The air we have left'll last for a long time yet, but as wildwood says - the quality of it'll only get worse if something isn't done.

[billwizzer]

My main point being to the original question was we dont know for sure the time span of such a possability that will happen! even if as we think it may not be for many milleniums to come, but as we seem to take things for granted that it will always be there as a usable product .
I will draw a line in the sand on this one , so thanks wildwood and ice.maiden and hope we have fresh air for many years to come, p.s when it becomes rare they will start to Tax it.

Cheers