not enough plants in the house

Considering how quickly the CO2 level increases in my house, now that I have convenient CO2 monitors to measure it, I began wondering why it changed so fast when I have plenty of houseplants at the windows downstairs. Sure, not all of them get direct sunlight, so they're not at peak efficiency, but why don't they make more of a dent in the carbon dioxide buildup?

That question led me to this recent YouTube video. It poses the question, "How many plants do you need to breathe?" The channel's author then builds an airtight room to test that question. The video is about half an hour long, and you could skip to the end for more of an "answer" (there's not an exact answer yet), but the journey is educational and worth the time to view it.

Watch on YouTube

Basically, I wouldn't be able to grow enough plants to meet my own personal needs. It's a very disappointing answer, far from what we thought NASA said. It might be possible, though, to redesign houses with some kind of bioreactor that could do a fair job of scrubbing the air for a single person. It really calls attention to how much biosphere we need as a species. We should definitely do more to protect the forests (trees) and oceans (algae) that allow us to continue living here.