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Continued CO2 Emissions Will Impair Thinking

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Rising CO2 causes more than a climate crisis—it may directly harm our ability to think.

 

Credit: Tommaso.sansone91 / Wikimedia Commons

As the 21st century progresses, rising atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations will cause urban and indoor levels of the gas to increase, and that may significantly reduce our basic decision-making ability and complex strategic thinking, according to a new CU Boulder-led study. By the end of the century, people could be exposed to indoor CO2 levels up to 1400 parts per million—more than three times today’s outdoor levels and well beyond what humans have ever experienced.

“It’s amazing how high CO2 levels get in enclosed spaces,” said Kris Karnauskas, CIRES Fellow, associate professor at CU Boulder and lead author of the new study published today in the AGU journal GeoHealth. “It affects everybody—from little kids packed into classrooms to scientists, business people and decision makers to regular folks in their houses and apartments.”

Shelly Miller, professor in CU Boulder’s school of engineering and coauthor adds that “building ventilation typically modulates CO2 levels in buildings, but there are situations when there are too many people and not enough fresh air to dilute the CO2.” CO2 can also build up in poorly ventilated spaces over longer periods of time, such as overnight while sleeping in bedrooms, she said.

Put simply, when we breathe air with high CO2 levels, the CO2 levels in our blood rise, reducing the amount of oxygen that reaches our brains. Studies show that this can increase sleepiness and anxiety, and impair cognitive function.

We all know the feeling: Sit too long in a stuffy, crowded lecture hall or conference room and many of us begin to feel drowsy or dull. In general, CO2 concentrations are higher indoors than outdoors, the authors wrote. And outdoor CO2 in urban areas is higher than in pristine locations. The CO2 concentrations in buildings are a result of both the gas that is otherwise in equilibrium with the outdoors, and also the CO2 generated by building occupants as they exhale.

Atmospheric CO2 levels have been rising since the Industrial Revolution, reaching a 414 ppm peak at NOAA’s Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii in 2019. In the ongoing scenario in which people on Earth do not reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change predicts outdoor CO2 levels could climb to 930 ppm by 2100. And urban areas typically have around 100 ppm CO2 higher than this background.

Karnauskas and his colleagues developed a comprehensive approach that considers predicted future outdoor CO2 concentrations and the impact of localized urban emissions, a model of the relationship between indoor and outdoor CO2 levels and the impact on human cognition. They found that if the outdoor CO2 concentrations do rise to 930 ppm, that would nudge the indoor concentrations to a harmful level of 1400 ppm.

“At this level, some studies have demonstrated compelling evidence for significant cognitive impairment,” said Anna Schapiro, assistant professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania and a coauthor on the study. “Though the literature contains some conflicting findings and much more research is needed, it appears that high level cognitive domains like decision-making and planning are especially susceptible to increasing CO2 concentrations.”

In fact, at 1400 ppm, CO2 concentrations may cut our basic decision-making ability by 25 percent, and complex strategic thinking by around 50 percent, the authors found.

The cognitive impacts of rising CO2 levels represent what scientists call a “direct” effect of the gas’ concentration, much like ocean acidification. In both cases, elevated CO2 itself—not the subsequent warming it also causes—is what triggers harm.

The team says there may be ways to adapt to higher indoor CO2 levels, but the best way to prevent levels from reaching harmful levels is to reduce fossil fuel emissions. This would require globally adopted mitigation strategies such as those set forth by the Paris Agreement of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

Karnauskas and his coauthors hope these findings will spark further research on ‘hidden’ impacts of climate change such as that on cognition. “This is a complex problem, and our study is at the beginning. It’s not just a matter of predicting global (outdoor) CO2 levels,” he said. “It’s going from the global background emissions, to concentrations in the urban environment, to the indoor concentrations, and finally the resulting human impact. We need even broader, interdisciplinary teams of researchers to explore this: investigating each step in our own silos will not be enough.”

Authors of “Fossil fuel combustion is driving indoor CO2 toward levels harmful to human cognition,” published in AGU’s GeoHealth today, are Kristopher B. Karnauskas (CIRES, CU Boulder Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences and Colorado School of Public Health), Shelly L. Miller (Mechanical Engineering, CU Boulder), and Anna C. Schapiro (Psychology, University of Pennsylvania.)

 

Contacts and sources:
Katie Weeman
University of Colorado at BoulderPublication: Fossil fuel combustion is driving indoor CO2 toward levels harmful to human cognition. Kristopher B. Karnauskas, Shelly L. Miller, Anna C. Schapiro.Kristopher B. Karnauskas, Shelly L. Miller, Anna C. Schapiro. GeoHealth, 2020; DOI: 10.1029/2019GH000237 GeoHealth, 2020; DOI: 10.1029/2019GH000237


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    Total 7 comments
    • Eaglefeather

      Go take a damn science class for God Sake!!! In case you missed that year in school I will remind you that “You are a Carbon based life form”.. All life on this planet is carbon based & plants breath Co2 & give off oxygen. CO2 is not a green house gas but is essential for all life on this planet. If you want to lower Co2 then go plant a damn tree or at least stop cutting down the rain forests which are responsible for over 1/3 of all the worlds O2 supply. here is a fun fact for the Libtards, How many Volcanoes are in the world?.. Answer, no one knows because most of them are under the ocean & they are responsible for the majority of not only Co2 production but also Methane, Sulfur & other gasses which actually are greenhouse gasses. I get so damn tired of stupid contributors posting stupid articles..

    • nikita

      Sounds like they already have for some ‘thinkers’.
      Have you been sniffing Sodastream capsules perchance? :lol:

      For the record:
      potential health problems are indicated below:

      250-350 ppm: background (normal) outdoor air level
      350-1,000 ppm: typical level found in occupied spaces with good air exchange
      1,000-2,000 ppm: level associated with complaints of drowsiness and poor air
      2,000-5,000 ppm: level associated with headaches, sleepiness, and stagnant, stale, stuffy air; poor concentration, loss of attention, increased heart rate and slight nausea may also be present.
      >5,000 ppm: This indicates unusual air conditions where high levels of other gases also could be present. Toxicity or oxygen deprivation could occur. This is the permissible exposure limit for daily workplace exposures.
      >40,000 ppm: This level is immediately harmful due to oxygen deprivation.

    • Razor

      Are you completely BRAIN DEAD?…..From CHINA are we? or from India?…You appear to be completely without intelligence at any level. You even seem to believe this “FAKE VIRUS” is dangerous yet it’s just the COMMON COLD!…You are a complete FEAR mongering piece of GARBAGE!….FAKE CRAP is all you spew!…….Go back to “YOU TUBE” and spew your TRASH there.

    • dave42

      I have notice a bunch of these articles in recent weeks on BIN.
      Seems like some of the propaganda people have been trying to target the mindspace.
      At first you find the FUD fear uncertainty doubt being put forward as information that speaks to the audience.
      But it is kind of like a cloistered gay man writing hetro love stories they project their world view and false stereo type belief of the audience.
      Just like when a closet gay man over compensates by having the skinniest girl friend with the biggest fake lips and boobs dressed up like any movie star whore as being a normal girlfriend.
      This over compensation is blatant and assumes anyone who does not share their world view has just not understood what they believe.
      In example the article has the subtext that because we do not agree with the religion of human pestilence wether it is climate change or population or “insert trendy cause here” then you must be ignorant.
      So the human sourced climate change belief has been attempted to be a validation of despotism for more than 60 years.
      While every prediction of the models has been false the belief shifts to push the agenda.
      The whole thing is just a spin off of the Option 3 plan from the 1950s.
      Option 1 create a expansion of the human race to space and other planets. tried 1960-1979 largest leap in technology and greatest benefit to mankind.
      Option 2 perpetual war and Global governance emerging from the collapsed chaos. Simply evil
      Option 3 A Global emergency concerning environment that forces all countries to agree to Global Governance. The other selection of option 3 was a alien invasion.
      Climate change first known as snow ball earth was pushed heavily in the 1970s were by 2020 the whole world was gong to be a frozen wasteland. The acid rain crisis claim was the first to attack US mineral wealth suppressing US coal production while allowing communist countries to increase their use. In the west we suffered huge inflation because of a reduction of energy resource. And crop production declined because of the reduction of atmospheric Sulfur , because the successful heritage seed base was developed during the use of coal and lowered ground level solar radiation. So this was known and GMO was offered as the solution with full knowledge of the 26 year limit to land use with these seeds. The next scam was to limit the opportunity of the American people by restricting their sphere of influence curtailing personnel transportation. This continued through the last 30 years attempting to quash the freedom. As example an average man week of work provided a family of four transport to any location in our country. You could drive from Miami to Seattle for about 250 usd. Today that same trip costs close to 3500 usd. When the projected END OF OIL climate crisis came and passed in 1991 they quickly shifted to wars. The next attempt was mass immigration to attempt to “mongrelize the masses” when that failed they moved to the Global Warming scam again continued the wars and mass immigration while claiming that 60% of the worlds land mass would be flooded. You see we live on a potato shaped collision remnant covered with three different types of water. The land and water do not mix and the waters do not mix. The surface f the planet exists in a plastic ISOSTASIS when ocean rises the land beneath compresses and the mountains get taller. The average altitude around the globe stays the same. So now the attempt is to convince humans that their breathing is an offense, lucky we have old books telling us who thinks that humans are at enemy. In asian cultures the word Satan was used to describe these people as enemies of mankind.

      Now Carbon Monoxide build up will cause loss of mental faculty but in these environments the production of OZONE from electric motors destroys CO or the presence of Ammonium Chloride absorbs CO.
      Carbon Dioxide exhaled form humans will eventually displace the free oxygen in a closed system at a rate of 1/2 liter per hour per person.
      In USA constructed buildings obtaining Occupancy License the total volume of air in an enclosed space must be 4x per hour in some spaces that rate is 40x. So literally no chance of concentrative displacement.
      The addition of ferns or broad leaf plants in the area increases maximum capacity at a rate of 1 person per kilogram of plant material.

      So in direct simple rebuttal NO we are not stupid from too much CO2 we are Much MORE informed and actually just kind and tolerant of your religious belief.

    • b4

      not really worth commenting on this article other than to say TOTAL BULLSHETT AND YOU ARE A F ING NUT JOB FOOL!!!!!

    • counselor john

      I found no science in this silly article but I did find a lot of imagination and speculation, and even more of a taking of some data and totally misapplying it to reality for the author’s own agenda. No science at all. Eagle feather is EXACTLY right in just a common sense approach to this article totally debunks its conclusion. To even think that we humans can effect our environment on a macro level outside of all out nuclear war is utterly infantile and agenda driven. Next time you write an article please at least point out with is real and what is speculation and as in an article like this , you will need to include your imagination and agenda.

    • Arse

      Entertain some idiots somewhere else with your CO2 crap. Stupid wanna be greenhouse idiot. thank Mr Eaglefeather for a little bit of education for the stupid.

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