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posted by martyb on Monday February 17 2020, @08:50AM   Printer-friendly
from the Bring-on-the-bottled-air dept.

The world's carbon-dioxide problem doesn't just affect the atmosphere — the gas is starting to fill our homes, schools, and offices, too.

Indoor levels of the gas are projected to climb so high, in fact, that they could cut people's ability to do complex cognitive tasks in half by the end of the century.

That prediction comes from three scientists from the University of Colorado Boulder and the University of Pennsylvania, who presented their findings last week at the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union. The study is still under peer review but available online in the repository Earth ArXiv.

The findings show that, if global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions continue to rise on their current trajectory, the concentration of CO2 in the air could more than double by 2100. Based on measurements of how humans function in spaces with that much CO2, the scientists warn, we could find ourselves scoring 50% lower on measures of complex thought by the end of the century.


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  • (Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 17 2020, @08:54PM (3 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 17 2020, @08:54PM (#959279)

    The advent of ubiquitous HVAC has put a severe downward pressure on the quality/durability of mass produced window opening mechanisms. Simple: they don't make 'em like they used to - at least around here.

    Around here being America?

    Around here, every office has a window that opens, never mind for houses. Every single pane window in my apartment opens. Every single one. The only exception is a 15cm wide addition next to one of the balcony doors. And as you may have guessed, this is not America here. I'm in Germany. Also, I can walk to store and live 20 minute slow walk from my work and pay USD$1000/mo for my apartment (3 rooms).

    So yes, it may be understood that housing in America has gone the cheap route as people are generally allergic to outdoors, but America is not the world. Far from it. Vast majority of the world population breathes outdoor or close to outdoor air.

    As for window mechanisms, you get what you pay for. If you want a "picture window", that's what you get. And you pay less for no mechanism and sealed existence.

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 17 2020, @09:33PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 17 2020, @09:33PM (#959298)

    but, but how do you get your cancer then?

  • (Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday February 18 2020, @02:16AM

    by JoeMerchant (3937) on Tuesday February 18 2020, @02:16AM (#959398)

    And I refer to not only Germany but all of Northern Europe and Scandinavia as having good opening window mechanisms with decent insulation properties I might add - but serious lack of insect screening most places.

    America is not the world

    Not per capita, no, but per net ton of CO2 emitted, we're an impressive #2 after China, and one could convincingly argue that the CO2 China emits on behalf of US consumers would swing the US to the #1 spot in the contest of CO2 emission shame.

    --
    🌻🌻 [google.com]
  • (Score: 2) by Rich on Tuesday February 18 2020, @05:09PM

    by Rich (945) on Tuesday February 18 2020, @05:09PM (#959590) Journal

    Sigh, I could have assumed that people who have a weird concept of "football" might also have a weird concept of "window"... ;)