Winell Callahan, age 17, of Quesnel, B. C., Canada, for his question:
What is the ratio of breathable air to world population?
Scientists have been saying for at least 20 years that mankind is multiplying at a rate too fast to handle. Nowadays, most thinking people are concerned about how this population explosion will limit the food, the oxygen and other vital supplies for future generation.
The Age of Industry is using up immense supplies of minerals, metals and petroleum. It is true that future generations will run out of these natural resources because the earth's stores are limited to so much and no more. And there is a limited amount of air, too. We can estimate our available portion but it would be unrealistic to forget the earth's plant and animal life, which also needs breathable air. Our estimate also would fail to consider the vast amounts of oxygen needed in industry to fuel fires and other forms of combustion.
The total weight of the earth's atmosphere is estimated to be around five quadrillion tons. This is five with a string of 15 zeros. The amount available for our breathing purposes is densely concentrated in the lower level of the atmosphere. This dense layer reaches up about 3 1/2 miles. Its weight is about 2 1/2 quadrillion tons and since the upper levels are not easily available, we will use it as a basis for our estimate.
By the time this copy goes to press, the world population may be almost 3,500 million. The lower level of the atmosphere then can offer each and everyone of us almost three quarters of a million tons of breathable air. And each of us needs an average day's worth of about 400 cubic feet of air, which weighs about 25 pounds. This is enough to see us all safely through today and many days into the future. In fact, if we counted only our breathing needs, we have enough air to supply us at the present rate for thousands and thousands of years.
But this estimate can last no longer than a breeze. The human population is increasing. In our calculations, we have allowed no air to support the plant and animal life that shares our planet. We have left none for fires and furnaces and failed to consider the pollution of the air by industrial wastes. On the other hand, we also have failed to take into account nature's eternal renewing of the gaseous atmosphere. Every day, the green plant world absorbs our waste carbon dioxide in enormous amounts. Every day, the green plants return countless tons of fresh oxygen to the air as a waste product of their process of photosynthesis.
It is wonderful when young people are concerned with the estimation and conser¬vation of our natural resources. And nothing is more vital to us than breathable air. Nature provides it and renews its abundance. The problem that faces us is air r pollution and we must solve it. This calls for sensible planning and the enforcement of strict regulations. Perhaps also we should stand ready to sacrifice some of the advantages of modern industry while we bring the suffocating smog over our cities under control.