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How much CO2 would a nuclear war emit?

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The smallest possible regional nuclear war would unleash around 700 million tons of carbon dioxide—about as much as a country like England emits every year. The stat comes from a new paper called "Review of solutions to global warming, air pollution, and energy security" by Marc Z. Jacobson, a professor of environmental engineering at Stanford. The piece led the British newspaper the Guardian to wonder about the potential carbon footprint of nuclear war. And thus, we head to (hopefully) hypothetical alley to take a look at some of the possible results of a nuclear conflict.

The Carbon Footprint of Nuclear War
The 700 million tons (690, to be accurate) of carbon emitted comes from the smallest possible projected conflict—"using just a thousandth of the weaponry of a full-scale nuclear war."

The small nuclear war would also send around 313 tons of soot into the atmosphere and would probably kill around 17 million people, according to the Guardian.

And how does one calculate the carbon footprint of nuclear war? Good question. According to the Guardian, it goes something like this: He calculated the emissions by totaling up
"the burn rate and carbon content of the fabric of our cities. "Materials have the following carbon contents: plastics, 38–92%; tires and other rubbers, 59–91%; synthetic fibers, 63–86%; woody biomass, 41–45%; charcoal, 71%; asphalt, 80%; steel, 0.05–2%. We approximate roughly the carbon content of all combustible material in a city as 40–60%."
  • added January 05, 2009
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22 responses // How much CO2 would a nuclear war emit?

  •  

    We kill eachother and we kill the earth at the same time! Whoo!

    Lazybones
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    How about the carbon content of the bodies of the 17 million people killed minus the carbon content of those 17 million people continuing to live and consume.

    guidedtotarget
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    Nuclear war should not even be viewed as a possibility. Why even think about it?

    Hunab_Ku
    2 responses to this
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    http://www.defensetech.org/archives/nuclearwinter.JPG
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    Nuclear winter would help offset the carbon.

    "The purpose of the paper is to compare the total human and environmental costs of a wide range of different power sources, from solar and wind to nuclear and biofuels. One of the side-effects of nuclear power, the report argues, is an increased risk of nuclear war: "Because the production of nuclear weapons material is occurring only in countries that have developed civilian nuclear energy programs, the risk of a limited nuclear exchange between countries or the detonation of a nuclear device by terrorists has increased due to the dissemination of nuclear energy facilities worldwide."

    NO NEW NUKES.

    covelogibbs
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    Clearly all the reason in the world to distroy all existing weapons and to ban any development of new ones forever! nuclear technology is to dangerous for a warlike creature like man to have access to for any reason however peaceful even its use to produce electrical power should be banned!

    galwayman
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    nice picture, i have that exact poster on my wall!
    is that weird?

    idealist
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    Why do you even need to use one of those anyways? How can someone become that evil and cold blooded to even think about using it? What a sad world we live in.

    cerealforeal
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    The carbon footprint from a nuclear war would be the least of my worries.

    mako2424
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    This has got to be the stupidest post I've seen on current all day.
    Because worrying about the polar bears when the fallout is coming makes perfect sense...
    I'd be more concerned with things like, oh, I don't know, SURVIVAL.

    Dmitri_Molotov
    1 response to this
  •  

    War. What is it good far. Absolutely nothing. Say it again.
    From the song war. By the group War.

    bluestranger
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    GLOBAL WARMING IS FAKE

    Dut
    • Dut
    • 6 months ago
    1 response to this
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    Preach it Mako... who the fuck cares about the carbon footprint when millions are dying... ohh i guess the douche who posted this ridiculous story.

    kreddig
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    I agree with y'all saying that the carbon footprint of a nuclear war is a silly subject. In reference to the massively more important social, political, and numerous other types of implications that'd be sure to plague to planet following such an attack, this issue seems quite irrelevant.

    InformedTexan
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    Does this really matter? If we're stuck in nuclear war do you really think we should be worrying about the environment. next please.

    TReaper405
  •  

    If this was a pitch for population control.. it was weak.

    arcticspirit

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