Natural Capital of the Atmosphere

As discussed in Chapter 1, Section 1.4, Earth s natural capital is its ability to provide materials, protection, and conditions conducive to life including Earth s resources and its ecosystans. A large fraction of Earth s natural capital is in the atmosphere and includes materials, waste assimilative capacity, and esthetics, largely determining the degree to which our surroundings are pleasant and conducive to our existence. The atmosphere s natural capital is discussed in this section. 

The atmosphere is a source of essential raw materials, both for organisms and for industrial use, and has major applications in the practice of green chemistry. Plants that provide the foundation of food chains within which all organisms thrive extract the carbon dioxide that they use to build biomass from the atmosphere. Animals and other organisms that perform oxic respiration obtain the molecular O2 they require from the atmosphere. The refractory N2 in the atmosphere is converted to biomass and protein nitrogen by bacteria growing in soil and water. 

Noble gas argon from the atmosphere is totally chanicaUy inert and is used industrially, such as 

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