New research put together by Dr. Nicholas Cowan, an atmospheric physicist at the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology in Edinburgh, argues that the gases exhaled by humans while breathing are a major contributing factor to global warming.
According to Dr. Cowan and his team, the simple act of respiration releases warming gases into the air that contribute to atmospheric heating and "boiling" oceans.
"It has been reported that exhaled human breath can contain the greenhouse gases methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O), both of which have a much higher global warming potential than carbon dioxide (CO2)," the study explains.
"Where hydrocarbon chains (food types) are consumed by humans and turned into CH4 (and N2O from nitrogen intake), the global warming potential is no longer neutral, and human respiration has a net warming effect on the atmosphere."
"We would urge caution in the assumption that emissions from humans are negligible."
“The new study was led by Dr Nicholas Cowan, an atmospheric physicist at the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology in Edinburgh.
— Chief Nerd (@TheChiefNerd) December 13, 2023
'Exhaled human breath can contain small, elevated concentrations of methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O), both of which contribute to global warming,'… pic.twitter.com/lGsvZAa8SJ
Stop breathing, save the world
For their study, the researchers looked at levels of methane and nitrous oxide in the human breath of 104 adult volunteers from the general population of the United Kingdom.
Each volunteer was instructed to take a deep breath, hold it for five seconds, then exhale into a sealable plastic bag. A total of 328 breath samples were collected from the participants, each of whom was recorded based on age, sex, and dietary preference.
Upon analysis, all of the breath samples were found to contain nitrous oxide, while only 31 percent were found to contain methane, the same gas found in "cow farts" that the climate cultists are also trying to eliminate.
The other 69 percent of participants that did not release methane in their breath were determined to still "release the gas in flatus," meaning flatulence.
Females above the age of 30 were found to be the most likely to exhale methane in their breath, though researchers say they are unsure why this is the case.
Overall based on all the samples, the researchers determined that the proportion of UK "greenhouse gas" emissions that come from people's breath is 0.05 percent for methane and 0.1 percent for nitrous oxide.
To be clear about what this means, Dr. Cowan stressed that these two percentages relate specifically to the two respective gases. The two percentages do not cover the totality of UK greenhouse gas emissions as a whole.
As far as they could tell, there is no link between gases in breath and what people eat, though the researchers made sure to throw in their bias against meat eaters, claiming that they fuel the climate crisis to a much higher degree than vegetarians and vegans.
The study also only looked at greenhouse gas emissions from breath. The researchers did not provide any kind of estimate as to a person's total emissions or their overall carbon footprint.
"I love global warming," one commenter wrote. "It encourages us to breathe so plants can become green."
"Well, we all knew this was bound to happen!" wrote another.
"I would like to suggest that Dr. Nicholas Cowan be the first to put a plastic bag over his head, duct tape the bag to his body and make certain there are no gaps, and breathe deeply to reduce the population!"
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