It’s almost an annual occurrence, but this summer it became more evident than ever before. The CO2 paradox: plenty of it in the atmosphere, and yet not enough of it to carbonate our beer.
Due to its role as a greenhouse gas (GHG), and arguably the most renowned GHG of all in the public domain, carbon dioxide (CO2) not only gets a bad press but is also perceived to be present in our atmosphere in huge volumes. This is not strictly true. Though it is the gas with by far the highest levels of emissions by volume, CO2 is technically not the worst offender of all the GHG’s; it is in fact 22,800 times less harmful than sulfur hexafluoride, and 300 times less harmful than nitrous oxide.
There is also less understanding of the differences between CO2 as a GHG and its concentration in the atmosphere, which are two very different things. Despite the widespread perception, the level of CO2 in the atmosphere is actually very minimal – it can be pegged at around 500 parts-per-million (ppm), which is less than 0.05%. And there’s good reason to be thankful for that – levels anywhere near 1-2% would present an intoxication hazard to us all.
So when a CO2 supply crisis erupted in Europe and Mexico this summer, the idea that it was available in abundance all around us was largely unfounded. Nonetheless, there is a certain sense of paradox that exists, and here’s why.
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