Do you really breathe oxygen?
Of course you do. But do you know where it comes from? Why protecting it is a team effort between oceans, forests, and you?
Oxygen makes up 20.95% of Earth’s atmosphere. It’s the lifeblood of every eukaryotic organism , that’s humans, animals, and yes, even plants, because it fuels cellular respiration. Without it, we wouldn’t last minutes. The molecule we breathe is O₂, or dioxygen, and here’s the twist: most of it doesn’t come from forests at all.
Roughly half of the oxygen you breathe right now comes from the ocean. It’s made by microscopic powerhouses such as phytoplankton, algae, and photosynthesising bacteria like Prochlorococcus, drifting in the sunlit upper layers of the sea. This tiny green bacterium alone is responsible for producing up to 20% of the oxygen in our atmosphere, more than all the Amazon rainforest combined.
But the ocean’s oxygen output isn’t “extra.” About half of what’s made is consumed by marine animals, plants, and bacteria, and more is used in the decomposition of organic matter. The ocean’s oxygen production is a balancing act and climate change, overfishing, and pollution are already disrupting it.
Forests: The Guardians of Balance
Forests account for around 28% of atmospheric oxygen. They don’t create a yearly surplus, but they keep the system stable acting like a thermostat for our atmosphere. Trees take in carbon dioxide and release oxygen through photosynthesis, but they also store carbon, regulate rainfall, and cool the planet’s surface.
Some trees are so efficient they’ve been called “oxygen factories” a single mature beech tree can produce enough oxygen in a year to support ten people. Imagine what happens when millions of trees vanish.
The oxygen you’re breathing today is part of a massive, stable reservoir built over hundreds of millions of years. This “oxygen bank” is topped up slowly and withdrawals happen constantly. Every time we lose a forest, damage a wetland, or degrade the ocean, we’re making withdrawals we can’t easily replace.
Why Treebytree’s Work Matters
Restoring trees isn’t just about shade or carbon storage, it’s about maintaining the delicate oxygen balance that keeps life possible. Every tree helps keep this ancient life-support system running, both on land and in the sea (by stabilising climate patterns that affect ocean oxygen production).
💚 When you gift a digital tree with Treebytree, you’re not just planting a symbol, you’re helping to keep the planet breathing. One click, one tree. It’s that simple.
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