• Question: why are greenhouse gasses staying in the atmosphere and not vanishing and why do companies keep on producing the gasses if in 100 to 1000 years the earth could be on fire

    Asked by lucaW to Olga, Madhumidha, Connor, Canice, Aruna, Anthony on 10 Mar 2020.
    • Photo: Aruna Chandrasekar

      Aruna Chandrasekar answered on 10 Mar 2020:

      Greenhouse gases are heavy gases, because of which they stay in the atmosphere for a while.
      Industries should definitely be wary of the gases they emit, but they don’t.
      CO2, methane, nitrous, and sulfur oxides are common byproducts to many industrial processes. Releasing them to the environment is an easy way for industries to get rid of them, instead of treating them (which would cost them extra money).

    • Photo: Connor McGookin

      Connor McGookin answered on 10 Mar 2020:

      They are quite thick heavy gases so linger for a long time, methane has a lifetime of around 30 years but CO2 stays for around 200 years.

      Companies keep producing them because at the moment its still cheaper than the alternatives. However, if we had a higher carbon tax charging companies for emitting them then they would have to change.

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