TikToker Paige (@liloceanpaige) made it clear upfront: volcanoes are not producing more carbon dioxide than humans.

The question has been floating around online, but in her video, she addressed it head-on.

She stood in front of a news headline about a 2022 volcanic eruption in Tonga and asked, "So are volcanoes emitting more carbon dioxide than humans?"

She gave a quick smile and shook her head. "They're not, so I'll make this short and sweet."

Volcanoes do put carbon dioxide into the air when they erupt. But, as Paige explained, while these eruptions can shift climate patterns for a while, the pollution they produce is tiny compared to what humans create every single year.

Holding up a research paper from the American Geophysical Union, she said, "Here they're saying volcanoes emit 0.15 to 0.26 gigatons of carbon dioxide per year."

She added that humans, at the time of the article in 2010, were releasing about 35 gigatons each year — not 0.35, but 35.

That's a big gap. Her video then showed an ascending graph to illustrate this difference over time.

"This handy little graph is showing us how many times larger human emissions are than volcanic," she said. "So back in the 1900s it was 20 [on the graph]. So that's 2000% larger from humans than it is from volcanoes. And now we're at almost 150 [on the graph]."

The math is simple. Volcanoes contribute under 1% of annual carbon dioxide emissions. Human activities, like burning oil, gas, and coal, produce about 100 times more.

Do you worry about air pollution in and around your home? Yes — always 💯 Yes — often 😷 Yes — sometimes 😟 No — never 🙅 Click your choice to see results and speak your mind.

This difference carries real consequences for people. Burning dirty energy sources fuels heatwaves, floods, wildfires, and droughts. Pollution from these fuels is linked to asthma and lung cancer in humans, the American Cancer Society noted.

Meanwhile, global temperatures are rising. Research shows volcanoes add a small, brief pulse of carbon dioxide, while human pollution sticks around, trapping heat for centuries.

Relying more on pollution-free energy, like that generated by solar panels or wind farms, can lower these emissions. Domestic solar panels can even cut monthly electricity bills and reduce air pollution at the same time.

Most TikTok users were relieved to hear someone debunk this common myth.

One user said, "Thank you girl."

Another added: "These facts on repeat please! Nice work on reporting the [Hunga Tonga–Hunga Haʻapai] eruption. It astounds me how little people heard about it at the time."

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