An Oxygen Economy

By Ranil Senanayake –

Air, the last of the Global Commons that transcends political boundaries, may be the commonwealth that we can source our value transactions in the future. Air which contains the most precious substance in the known universe, free molecular Oxygen, is itself a mix of four major gasses Nitrogen (78%), Oxygen (20.9%), Argon (.93%) and Carbon Dioxide (.03%).

The current climate crisis is seen as being driven by excess heat trapped in the atmosphere by the so–called ‘greenhouse gasses, Carbon Dioxide being the major contributor, an increase in CO2 concentration leads to an increase in global temperatures, hence the interest in trees to sequester Carbon

Carbon Dioxide is extracted from the atmosphere by plants and converted into a solid form. Photosynthetic biomass performs the act of primary production, the initial step in the manifestation of life. The biomass so termed has the ability to increase in mass through the absorption of solar or other electromagnetic radiation while releasing oxygen and water vapour into the atmosphere.

Yet currently, it is only one product of this photosynthetic biomass, sequestered carbon, usually represented by wood/timber, is recognized as having commercial value in the carbon market for mitigating climate change. The ephemeral part, the leaves, are generally ignored, yet the photosynthetic biomass in terrestrial ecosystems are largely composed of leaves, this component needs a value placed on it for its ‘environmental services’.

The concept of a ‘Carbon Economy’ is untenable as the reasoning behind its value is flawed. The Carbon Economy is based on the idea that, because the activity of burning carbonaceous material (Oil, Gas firewood) releases climate changing Carbon Dioxide into the atmosphere and planting trees and other activities will soak up those emissions (or an equivalent amount), making the polluter ‘Carbon neutral’. Here emissions are offset with certified Carbon Credits.   A company is considered ‘Carbon neutral’ when it measures its carbon footprint, reduces its emissions and buys carbon credits to balance out the difference.

What has been missed by the promoters of the Carbon Economy is that, although fossil carbon too arose as a product of photosynthesis, in the geological process of the planet these products were removed from the biosphere and changed by the action of heat and pressure to become fossilized with sequestration times that are measured in millions of years. Fossil Carbon does not possess the isotope C14 and has a very different C12 to C13 ratio compared to biological carbon. It is not interactive with the living or biotic cycle.

A tree plated to ‘absorb’ carbon emitted by burning fossil fuels may last for a hundred or so years, when it finally dies all the absorbed carbon goes back into the atmosphere. Thus paying for the growing of trees to compensate for the carbon dioxide generated by the loss of a forest is fine, but paying the same price for growing trees to compensate for carbon dioxide generated by fossil carbon is tantamount to ‘carbon laundering’. There is no way to compare the carbon from oil and coal with the carbon from a forest. One has a space in the biotic cycle the other does not. This creates for massive accounting errors. About half of the Carbon that is fixed by trees belong in the biosphere but about half is of fossil origin and cannot be ‘put away’ by incorporating it in a tree. .

To address this issue we must revisit the reasons for the current crisis. It is the burning of fossil carbon that creates the problem of producing Carbon Dioxide that drives climate change. Carbon Dioxide has one molecule of Carbon and two molecules of Oxygen. The Carbon cannot be sequestered with existing technologies but the Oxygen can be returned to the atmosphere. Turning the problem on its head might give us a way out.

Oxygen, along with fixed Carbon and clean water are are produced by the action of photosynthesis in a leaf. These services are termed Primary Ecosystem Services (PES) because they refer to the actions generated by the act of Primary Productivity, the start of all life as we know it.

Primary Productivity is the action of photosynthesis whereby the energy of the sun is stored in living tissue or biomass. This action is measured as Net Primary Productivity (NPP) or the net flux of carbon from the atmosphere into green plants per unit time. NPP is a rate process, i.e., the amount of vegetable matter produced (net primary production) per day, week, or year. The higher the NPP of an area the more Primary Ecosystem Services (PES) it will produce. As it is the leaves (Photosynthetic Biomass) of plants that deliver these services they, are the most logical proxy to measure Primary Ecosystem Services (PES) with.

A recent study that systematically analysed the global O₂ budget and its changes over the past 100 years, found that anthropogenic fossil fuel combustion is the largest contributor to the current O₂ deficit, which consumed 2.0 Gt/a in 1900 and increased to 38.2 Gt/a by 2015. The signs are all around. A recent study on the levels of Oxygen in the ocean found that the oceanic Oxygen levels decreased by 2 % over the last 50 years.  On land, the font of Oxygen are the leaves of trees, but  another study published in the journal Nature suggests that 15 billion trees are cut down each year and the global tree count has fallen by 46% since the beginning of human civilization. Considering that a tree produces 120 Kg of oxygen each year this represents a massive loss of Oxygen to the atmosphere.

Sri Lanka identified this problem and acted on this need. In 2015 it stated:

We are aware that the critical Ecosystem services such as; production of Oxygen, sequestering of Carbon, water cycling and ambient cooling is carried out by the photosynthetic component of biomass. This is being lost at an exponential rate, due to the fact that these Ecosystem Services have not been valued, nor economically recognized. We would request the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC) to examine the value of photosynthetic biomass. Sri Lanka Position Paper from the Presidential delegation to the UN Conference for Climate Change (COP21) Paris 1-10 December 2015

The call to action was picked up by the Sri Lankan company, Earthrestoration p/l. A project to institute, Monitor, Record, Validate (MRV) the purchase contract for the Primary Ecosystem Services (PES) from tree plants in return for an annual payment for trending to the tree (Unit) was begun. A group of women from single parented households after the war, were chosen the project began in 2017. On the 4^th of April  2019 the Foreign Minister, Dinesh Gunewardena, recognized the work and made a statement in parliament of Sri Lanka where he pointed to a new area of possible growth. Here he  stated  that the  rural sector has the potential of generating enormous capital through the production of Primary Ecosystem Services. In 2021 He handed the final PES payments to initial participants. It is saltatory that the potential of this approach was illustrated by seven ladies who, over three years had produced over 5000 liters of Oxygen for the Global Commons.

This suggests a way forward, recognizing the value of PES can provide a huge economic boom, it also creates an incentive for the public to participate in the essential work of environmental repair. As photosynthetic biomass can retain value only as long as it is living. A leaf on a tree, for instance, has value only as long as it is carrying out the activity of photosynthesis and producing PES, pluck that leaf and the activity ceases, as does the value. The economy will, for the first time begin to put a value on life. Such an economy will increase photosynthetic biomass everywhere and render that area rich in environmental services as well in economic opportunities. It will change urban – rural relations into a more equitable and sustainable state and rapidly increase the biomass capital of the planet locking up Carbon Dioxide and producing Oxygen.

The possibilities that an Oxygen economy can offer are tantalizing. The global commons of air contains the precious Oxygen stock, from which we can take or return, just like from a bank. We have just glimpsed the possibilities through the data on Primary Ecosystem Services (PES) being gathered by Earthrestoration (www.restore.earth). Obviously much more discussion is needed, these ideas are new, they are radical but they do offer a new way of creating wealth that could actually save the planet.

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