"On the profit side we have an abundance of green plants, in the oceans and on land, which daily perform the miracle of photosynthesis, absorbing the rays of the sun and through the chlorophyll in bacteria producing energy that is used to break down water molecules into their component parts. The hydrogen thus released is combined with carbon to supply sugar for the plant's own needs, while the oxygen is given off as a waste product." Theo held up his fist, which shook slightly. This process, far more complex than that taking place in a petrochemical plant--and, what's more, happening inside a group of cells less than one billionth of an inch in diameter--is the unique factor that allows animal life to exist on this planet. Without it"--the fist flicked open to become a knife blade that sliced the air--"nothing!"
"I think it's safe to assume that Dr. Chase is familiar with the miracle of photosynthesis," Cheryl said mildly.
"Yes, yes, please forgive me." Theo spread his hands in apology. "You must understand that this and little else has occupied my thoughts for a long time." He eased back in the chair, his profile etched against the lamplight. "That, as I say, is the profit side of the equation. On the loss side we have the consumption of oxygen: every form of life that respirates, including man, and every kind of combustion process-- power plants, factory furnaces, automobiles, aircraft, domestic boilers --everything in fact that burns fossil fuels.
"Now, it has been estimated, based on the most reliable sources available, that every year we consume between ten and fifteen percent of the free oxygen in the atmosphere. Until today that annual deficit has, as you point out, been 'topped up' by the photosynthetic activity of green plants.
"However, we must now take into account several new factors. First, the increase in world population, which by the year 2000 will be approximately six and a half billion. If we progress as we have been doing, this will mean more of everything--power plants, factories, cars, aircraft--all of which will demand more and more oxygen. Each year that ten to fifteen percent deficit will grow larger. Maybe that wouldn't matter too much if the production of oxygen continued at its present rate; but when we look closely at the balance sheet we find that the profit side is getting more and more into the red.
"As well as the declining phytoplankton we're also losing the world's major forests. Deciduous forests have an oxygen-producing capacity one thousand times greater than the average land surface, and in the United States alone we cover an area the size of Rhode Island--five thousand square miles--with new roads and buildings every year.
"We all know about the great forests in South America, Southeast Asia, Borneo, New Zealand. They're being destroyed at an alarming rate, but even more disastrously they're being burned--which at a stroke turns that item on our balance sheet from profit to loss. Instead of being net
"Which is," Boris put in somberly, "less profit, more loss. The equation does not balance. We consume more of what isn't there no longer."
The Russian, with his quaint English, had come up with a clumsy yet telling description, thought Chase.
"Must the earth revert to its primordial atmosphere?" he wanted to know. "Isn't there another possibility, another direction it might take?"
Theo was prepared to admit he might be wrong, but added a killing rider: "I've tried to make the equation balance and found it impossible; believe me, Dr. Chase, I have tried."
For all that man had done to the environment, the planet's complex web of self-regulating mechanisms had always in the past managed to compensate for his use and abuse of natural resources. But that, as Chase now realized, was begging the question. Detrick wasn't talking about what had happened
