Why the Amazon is NOT the lungs of the Planet

You’ve heard the claim, but it’s based on a misconception.

Think back to 2019

The year before Covid took the World hostage, three years before Russia invaded Ukraine, the Notre Dame burned in Paris and halfway through Donald Trumps first term as president – a lot happened in 2019.

But do you remember what happened in South America? Specifically in the Amazon?

The Amazon Fires

In January 2019, more than 40,000 wildfires wrecked havoc on the Amazon, burning more than 9,000 square kilometres (3,500 square miles).

A true environmental catastrophy.

The Lungs of the Earth are burning

In numerous media all across the Globe and on social media, a claim that the Amazon produced 20 % of the World’s Oxygen began to circulate as an argument to why everyone should do much more to stop the wildfires.

An honerable ambition – but it’s based on a misconception..

Plenty of reasons – but not oxygen

In an interview med National Geographic, Earth systems scientist Michael Coe, who directs the Amazon program at the Woods Hole Research Center in Massachusetts, explained that there are a number of reasons, we should keep the Amazon safe – but that oxygen is not one of them.

The numbers don’t add up

For every carbon dioxide molecule, trees absorb from the air, they release a comparable number of oxygen molecules.

But the atmosphere contains less than half a percent of carbon dioxide and 21 % oxygen.

So it’s symply not physically possible for the Amazon to produce that much oxygen.

So what is the lungs of the Earth then?

While tropical forests are without a doubt an important part of the Earth’s ecosystem, the Oxygen we breath actually comes from the Oceans.

But humans can’t breathe water, you might think – and you’d be right.

But it’s not the water, that allows us to breathe.

Plants, yes – trees, no

According to an article from Oxford Biodiversity Network, it’s actually marine algae, we have to praise for the Atmosphere of the Earth being breathable.

Actually, algae are responsible for producing as much as 50-80 % of the Earth’s oxygen, according to multiple sources.

So to sum up …

There are plenty of reasons, we should protect and preserve the Amazon. Biodiversity, a source of food and water for locals, and even some medicine is produced with the help of the Amazon.

But the claim that they are The Lungs of the Earth, should not be on the list.