The Air That I Breathe

In 1974 the British pop-rock group The Hollies released their last major hit. The song The Air That I Breathe reached number 2 on the UK singles chart and number 6 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart. It charted high in many countries, including number 1 in New Zealand, the Netherlands, and South Africa.

Written by Albert Hammond and Mike Hazlewood, the song was a love song declaring that all the singer needed was ‘the air that I breathe, and to love you.’

There can be no dispute that we all need the air that we breathe.

When the single was released the air that we breathe contained 330 parts per million (ppm) of CO₂ (carbon dioxide). This level (330ppm) was the highest level the Earth had experienced for at least 800,000 years. Around 320,000 years ago atmospheric carbon dioxide levels peaked at 300ppm, and then settled back to around 200ppm. Two more peaks, around 250,000 years ago and 120,000 years ago saw CO₂ levels reach approximately 280ppm.

Thus, at no time during the existence of us (Homo sapiens) upon the Earth had the atmosphere contained more than 300ppm of carbon dioxide.

Until the 20^th century! The proportion of CO₂ contained in the Earth’s atmosphere reached more than 300ppm in 1911 and continued to rise continuously thereafter.

By the time the Hollies were stating that ‘all that I need is the air that I breathe’ carbon dioxide levels were around 10% higher than at any time in the evolutionary history of Homo sapiens.

The levels were to go higher, and higher still.

Today (in March 2026), the proportion of CO₂ in the atmosphere is 430ppm. 100ppm greater than it was when the song was released. In just over fifty years – two generations!

That may not sound much. 430ppm is 0.043%. Not much, some may claim. And, only an increase of 0.01% between 1974 and 2026. What’s to get concerned about?

We could ask the same of arsenic. Our bodies require arsenic – in tiny quantities. Yet, a very tiny increase in that quantity and the arsenic in our bodies becomes toxic, even fatal. Tiny differences can have significant outcomes. As it is with arsenic in our bodies, so it is with carbon dioxide in our atmosphere.

Most of us know that higher concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere have a direct bearing on the Earth’s climate systems. We do get concerned about that, although there are still large numbers of sceptics.

We could also get concerned about how increasing CO₂ levels in the atmosphere have a direct impact upon our health.

A paper published in January this year stated that, ‘There is mounting experimental evidence that lifetime exposure to these increasing atmospheric CO₂ levels can negatively impact the normal physiology of organisms.’¹

In typical scientific caution, the authors noted that ‘directly assessing this in humans is very difficult.’

They did, however, warn that if trends in increasing levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere continued then our ‘blood bicarbonate levels could be at the limit of the accepted healthy range in half a century.’

Half a century. That is the same length of time that has elapsed since the Hollies sang that ‘all I need is the air that I breathe.’

There is little to no indication that the proportion of CO₂ in the atmosphere is likely to decrease within the next half a century.

Let us keep singing, ‘all I need is the air that I breathe.’

Politicians, captains of industry, economists, and others need to hear us singing this song.

 

Note:

1. Alexander Larcombe & Phil Bierwirth, Carbon dioxide overload, detected in human blood, suggests a potentially toxic atmosphere within 50 years, Air Quality, Atmosphere & Health, 13 January 2026. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11869-026-01918-5 accessed 8 March 2026