As the volcano in Iceland threatens to erupt any minute now, some social media users are falsely claiming the fumes from the natural disaster will generate more CO2 than all of the cars and airplanes on earth. #TheCube
According to a 2019 peer-reviewed study by the Deep Carbon Observatory program in Washinton, DC, human activity emits approximately 40 to 100 times more CO2 each year than all the volcanoes on our planet.
2 Sentence Summary: No, we emit about 40 to a 100 times the CO2 of a volcanic eruption (peer-reviewed study) in a year. Though they still have quite an impact with the particulates they throw off in the atmosphere, such as sulphur dioxide.
Even if they did (they don’t), that would just be all the more reason to get the factors we can control actually under control that much more urgently.
It’s like asking if the car in your garage that just caught fire would put off more heat than your house after the blaze spreads beyond the garage… Who fucking cares?? Call the fire dept and grab an extinguisher before your home turns to ash!
No
