Re: Comaparing Idiot Merkins to Brilliant Europeans (was Re: 20%ofEU citizens are possibly creationists)

In message <s1B0f.508$ht7.465@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, John Harshman
<jharshman.diespamdie@xxxxxxxxxxx> writes
>Martin wrote:
>
>> Noone Inparticular wrote:
>>
>> >3. The oxygen we breathe comes from plants (T)
>>
>> I think I might take issue with this one. Th question to be asked is
>> "Are plants a sink or a reservoir of carbon?"
>>
>> I think plants in general are a reservoir of carbon and do not produce a
>> net output of oxygen. Sure, some plants can act as a sink, peat bogs if
>> left undisturbed probably would, but even peat bogs are being dug up and
>> burnt for fuel. The only way plants could remove carbon is to have the
>> bio-mass taken out of circulation, and this is going to take million
>> upon millions of years.
>>
>What's the difference between a sink and a reservoir? And you need to
>talk in terms of oxidation and reduction here in order to make yourself
>clear.
>
>Anyway, nobody is talking about plants, today, being net reducers of
>carbon. Obviously, if the atmosphere is in a dynamic equilibrium (which
>it is, roughly, despite recent increases in CO2), there can be no net
>reduction going on. The question is whether plants replenish the O2 lost
>to respiration and other forms of oxidation, and whether the atmospheric
>O2 turns over frequently, passing through plants. Which they do, and it
>does. I recall seeing a claim that if there were no photosynthesis, and
>holding everything else constant, we have about a 200-year supply of
>atmospheric O2 at current rates of consumption.
>
There is the complication that plants aren't the only photosynthetic
organisms.
--
alias Ernest Major


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