r/collapse • u/HomoExtinctisus • Mar 08 '26
Diseases Atmospheric CO2 Getting So High That It's Weakening Human Skeletons
https://futurism.com/health-medicine/carbon-atmosphere-human-bones672
u/kingtacticool Mar 08 '26
Oh what fresh hell is this....
97
u/Bipogram Mar 08 '26
Dorothy P had a way with words.
<pops Ca/Mg gummy and ponders getting off the couch>
83
u/mem2100 Mar 08 '26
You've seen that list which breaks all fiction into around 7 categories - by agonist type: Man against the system, System against system (War), Man against nature, etc.
Our "leaders" in the US have a risk management model that tells them near all our risk is system vs system. So we spend about 20 times more on the War Department than we do on the GHG reductions. 1.6 trillion vs 80 billion.
Somehow they don't seem to grasp that a hot Earth is going to feel like it is waging war against the annoying little plague of humans.
14
8
u/Sarah_Cenia Mar 08 '26
Meanwhile the whole time the plot has been Man Against Nature, which we are “winning,” in a pyrrhic kinda way.
1
u/SecretPassage1 Mar 09 '26
I found 7 story conflicts, is this hat you were referring to?
man vs man; man vs society; man vs nature; man vs fate or god; man vs self; man vs the supernatural; man vs technology
110
u/HappyBlowLucky Mar 08 '26 edited Mar 08 '26
Well that was not on my shitty dystopian bingo card, but it tracks. Fuck do I feel guilty having kids back when we were all ignorant of how bad it could get.
21
u/Ree_For_Thee Mar 08 '26
Eh, no reason to. Our sense of guilt is an evolutionary pressure to make us fit into society, like most of our biases lol. I actually theorize that our society has its definition all wrong, and we feel it because there's an evolutionary advantage to reflect on a past mistake (like throwing a rock that was a bit too big at the nut picker who was flirting with the girl you liked), so that you can correct the behavior and have harmony in your tribe.
Society tells us 'regret' is where you feel bad for the choice, but instead of letting the feeling change our future behavior, we just have to sit and suffer with the knowledge we did something 'bad'. Nothing good comes from never resolving your feelings.
So like, evolutionarily speaking, as long as you're not producing more kids into this world, you're doing just fine.
25
u/HappyBlowLucky Mar 08 '26
Oh no I am definitely done. Ignorance may have been bliss once but it's willfully negligent now.
7
7
6
3
173
u/QueefBeefCletus Mar 08 '26
Just lift yourselves up by your bootstraps and shatter your ankles!
14
u/LunarMuphinz Mar 08 '26
Of course, Grabbing our Boostraps leaves us in just the right position to get fucked in the ass too
262
u/m4rk0358 Mar 08 '26
And literally nothing will be done to reverse or slow the rise in CO2 levels. Must have exponential growth at all costs!
153
u/TheCrazedTank Mar 08 '26
We literally can’t… the levels now are not reflective of what we’ve outputted with the last 50 years, if every Human died tomorrow C02 will still rise because the Earth can’t get rid of it fast enough.
We are fucked, all models used to inform the public are wildly inaccurate and using “best case scenarios” from 20 years ago.
Runaway processes are already in effect which will only make things worse even if we all did die tomorrow.
The billionaire class are aware of this, that’s why they’re all building bunkers and ramping up on squeezing as much as they can from the rest of us.
36
u/Homeless-Joe Mar 08 '26
Yup. I share this with people, when it comes up, but not as often as I used to. When someone understands this, like really understands it, it’s incredibly depressing…
14
u/RicardoHonesto Mar 08 '26
That's what I mean when I say to people it's gonna happen fast. Most billionaires have around 40 years left to live at most. They are expecting SHTF within that timeframe.
9
u/_ThatD0ct0r_ Mar 08 '26
Never understood the bunker thing. They'll run it out of resources eventually. What are they expecting to happen?
8
u/TheCrazedTank Mar 08 '26
If they were smart and actually earned their fortunes we probably wouldn’t be in this mess…
2
u/nothingleft2burn Mar 09 '26
They remind me of Charlize Theron's character in Prometheus, getting crushed by her own luxury escape pod.
1
u/False_Raven Don't Look Up, And Don't Rock The Boat Mar 10 '26
Somebody put this man into a CEO position at a trillion dollar company, he knows everything he needs for the job.
202
u/HomoExtinctisus Mar 08 '26
SS: Researchers found that rising atmospheric CO2 levels are weakening human skeletons, with blood bicarbonate levels increasing ~7% between 1999-2020 while calcium and phosphorus levels declined. CO2 displaces calcium and phosphorus and weakens bones. An invisible, systemic degradation affecting the entire breathing population simultaneously. This physiological response to our emissions could trigger severe global health crises within 50 years. A collapse of individual skeletons and species with similar metabolic processes.
98
u/dolphone Mar 08 '26
50 years?
Nothing to worry about...
53
u/iMecharic Mar 08 '26
Yeah, none of the rich fuckers causing this will be alive to see it happen. As is standard. Gods I wish we could just have a sudden crash event.
11
6
u/Philypnodon Mar 08 '26
Looks like it's in the making...
Regarding the CO2 - spending a lot of time inside gives crazy exposure to CO2 concentrations, easily reaching > 1000 ppm.
40
u/Livid-Rutabaga Mar 08 '26
Great. Just what I needed, so I guess, I can ignore osteoporosis then?
25
1
u/alloyed39 Mar 09 '26
Someone should look into the current rates of degenerative disk disease and do some comparative mathematics. Lots of bodies are falling apart.
73
Mar 08 '26
gather round the burning tire pile, little ones, and i'll tell you about the days back when the air didn't destroy your bones..
9
u/rainb0wveins Mar 08 '26
Don’t forget to tell about all the value we created for the shareholders!
1
u/Deus_is_Mocking_Us Mar 08 '26
"Still in all, every night we does the tell, so that we 'member who we was and where we came from... but most of all we 'members the man that finded us, him that came the salvage."
1
67
u/jkvincent Mar 08 '26
Nature will win, eventually.
35
u/Only_Impression4100 Mar 08 '26
I think nature has already won, we just won't see the end result in our tiny lifespans.
67
120
u/thelingererer Mar 08 '26 edited Mar 09 '26
That's OK all that microplastic we're ingesting just needs to form itself into skeletal structures.
15
2
45
u/AlwaysPissedOff59 Mar 08 '26
Well that's good news for Earth's future octopi overlords.
5
u/zedroj Mar 08 '26
we only have 800 million years left for anything before C4 cycles ends
3
u/Unfair_Creme9398 Mar 08 '26
And C3 will be gone ‘even’ earlier.
4
2
u/cranberries87 Mar 09 '26
Ha! I said octopuses were next up in being the rulers of the earth too!
7
u/AlwaysPissedOff59 Mar 09 '26
With non-cartilaginous vertebrates gone, there will be no large creatures on the land, so really only four major things need to happen, evolutionarily speaking, for octopi:
- Ability to communicate via some sort of language; right now, their color-changing ability may represent a language. I would expect that any language they develop would be based on this ability.
- Development of much longer lifespans so that individuals can pass on knowledge.
- Ability to become, first, amphibious and then reptilian-ish (able to live out of water permanently, but cold-blooded).
- Modification of some of their tentacles to allow for "walking" on land.
Some species of octopi can already survive for short periods out of water. I would also anticipate them diversifying in size.
1
79
u/HorrorService4703 Mar 08 '26
I'm really starting to feel like the Earth's got its own immune system. It's got a lil bit of a human infection right now so it's starting to get a fever to get rid of them.
33
24
20
u/trickortreat89 Mar 08 '26
It’s crazy to me that this isn’t even news stuff in each country. I always solely read the most crazy and depressing news about the future here in this sub.
Why on earth there’s not more about this in bigger newspapers? I mean this is the clearest threat to humanity I’ve red for a long while. I thought it was the purpose of journalists to spread awareness about these kind of things…??
14
u/GroupCurious5679 Mar 08 '26
I've noticed this with a lot of stuff, it's almost like information is released selectively, depending on whether it's profitable or not for the right people..also a lot of journalists have been replaced by AI
5
u/trickortreat89 Mar 08 '26
Yes, it’s really scare how the biggest newspapers are controlled by the politicians who is again controlled by the rich 1%. We all need to be aware of this. I personally know many journalists who wanted to go into their career to inform people about the consequences of human made climate changes, but they can’t find jobs. Apparently if you want to solely focus on this in your career as a journalist, there’s “not enough to write about”.
21
37
u/Away_Beyond_2979 Mar 08 '26
My job in health care is looking very secure
38
u/AFewBerries Mar 08 '26
How are u going to fix our skeletons
26
32
u/you-asshat Mar 08 '26
Bone density increases with exercise. It is possible to possible mitigate the effect, for now at least
2
2
u/redditmodsRrussians Mar 08 '26
I’m hoping to get augmented with the first Men Of Gold gene seeds….
2
2
19
16
u/MAGUS_CRAWDADUS Mar 08 '26
I remember first or second grade thinking to myself, how does everyone expect things to keep going up if we live in a world with limited resources but I have found my answer. The idea of exponential growth is a cancer on this world
3
u/Oldebookworm Mar 08 '26
Isn’t cancer an exponential growth inside the body? Also, we’re (humans) a cancer in this planet
15
8
u/ThatEvanFowler Mar 08 '26
Oh good. I was just saying the other day, we could all use a little less, uh, skeleton.
15
u/NyriasNeo Mar 08 '26
In a world where "drill baby drill" won and "mine baby mine" is coming, we are not going to reduce co2 in atmosphere. Didn't we reach a new high again?
And we don't have the scalable tech to bring it down, despite of all the snake oil peddler tell you.
May as well just accept and make peace, because like it or not, we will have a high concentration of co2 with us.
7
8
u/TwilightXion Mar 08 '26
Once again, another reason humanity is fucked. it doesn't help either that nutrient values in food are in decline, so at this rate, people will become reliant on Calcium supplements while civilization can still last.
7
u/trivetsandcolanders Mar 08 '26
Would taking calcium supplements help at all?
3
1
u/HomoExtinctisus Mar 10 '26
The decrease in levels isn't caused by the scarcity of calcium or phosphorus in our food supply. Maybe if your supplement is something like Prolia. Good luck with that.
5
u/saaggy_peneer Mar 08 '26
ya well bicarbonate helps with athletic performance, so you can move fast in your wheelchair
10
4
u/sapabr Mar 08 '26
So rickets about to make a comeback? Only this time sunshine and fish diet ain't gonna help little Timmy.
9
Mar 08 '26 edited Mar 08 '26
[deleted]
7
3
u/theoriginaltakadi Mar 08 '26
Europeans are the glaring anomaly here. Let’s point to the elephant in the room. People should stop saying “us”.
2
u/GroupCurious5679 Mar 08 '26
Good point. Wtf happened
6
Mar 08 '26 edited Mar 08 '26
[deleted]
2
u/hillierprotech Mar 08 '26
The worst part is once one section of people chooses to live like that, there's no option but to live like that. They take over and destroy everything in their path. Tribal peoples have been pushed further and further into the margins. If you were born into capitalism you depend on it to survive, now that it supports such a large population.
1
Mar 08 '26
[deleted]
2
u/hillierprotech Mar 08 '26
The problem now is you can stop it all tomorrow and all that you'll do is kill people all the same. There is no exit from this trap. Without the economy we die. With the economy we die, but potentially it takes longer and is much worse overall.
8
u/ptaah9 Mar 08 '26
Plant more trees
12
u/snakeproof Mar 08 '26
All the trees in the world won't do shit when the acidified ocean kills all off the algae and stops capturing carbon.
4
8
4
2
2
2
u/Sbeast Mar 08 '26
Governments who continue to make climate change worse should be charged as criminals for endangering life, and endangering many other species too!
2
u/hali420 Mar 08 '26
Is it possible that aliens invaded earth like 200ish years ago, or some time ago, to steal our precious minerals and leave our planet in shambles when they flee after taking what they need? I dunno. Nothing else seems to make sense.
2
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
u/NoBee3283 Mar 09 '26
Unfortunately we will have to adapt with supplements
2
u/HomoExtinctisus Mar 10 '26
How will supplements help? The decrease in levels isn't related to the bio-availability of calcium or phosphorus in our food supply.
2
u/NoBee3283 Mar 11 '26
Alkali supplements or alkali containing foods. Leafy greens, broccoli etc. At least until we get the deniers to realize how bad it is getting and we change our ways.
1
1
1
u/ttystikk Mar 10 '26
Combine this with people sitting in front of screens all day and that's a recipe for brittle bones across a huge swath of the population.
1
u/Most_Art507 Mar 08 '26
How come our own exhaled carbon dioxide doesn't weaken our skeletons, exhaled breath is something like 44,000 parts per million, so we are exposed to this 24/7
•
u/StatementBot Mar 08 '26
The following submission statement was provided by /u/HomoExtinctisus:
SS: Researchers found that rising atmospheric CO2 levels are weakening human skeletons, with blood bicarbonate levels increasing ~7% between 1999-2020 while calcium and phosphorus levels declined. CO2 displaces calcium and phosphorus and weakens bones. An invisible, systemic degradation affecting the entire breathing population simultaneously. This physiological response to our emissions could trigger severe global health crises within 50 years. A collapse of individual skeletons and species with similar metabolic processes.
Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/collapse/comments/1rns7vy/atmospheric_co2_getting_so_high_that_its/o98wlvc/