Carbon

  Did you know that you have carbon? The carbon in your body could once have been in someone else's breath or even the bone of a dinosaur. Carbon is an important element on this planet. The important element is used to make coral & shellfish, then gets turned into limestone. Scientists have found carbon in every living form and nonliving form. This element gets locked up for millions of years. Earth is made up of 118 elements. Humus, decaying leaves, is 70% carbon. 

Carbon dioxide (co2)

Carbon dioxide is made up of two elements: carbon and oxygen. Co2 has a very important job: it traps heat in the atmosphere. Without co2 we would be freezing to death. Plants do photosynthesis to absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and ground. They use energy from the sun to combine this co2 and h2o to make sugar, which keeps plants alive. 

Excess co2 traps heat in the atmosphere; it's called the greenhouse gas. Since the industrial revolution, humans have been burning fossil fuels, e.g. coal, wood, gas, and oil. The increased level of co2 in the atmosphere is having a huge effect on worldwide climate patterns.

The main three-carbon sinks are oceans, forests, and soil. A carbon sink is a living, breathing storehouse for one of Earth's essential elements. Oceans, forests, and soil are in any system that absorbs more carbon than it releases.  These natural ecosystems can absorb carbon from the atmosphere. Carbon sinks are becoming more important than ever. While trees are growing they can release carbon into the atmosphere. The ocean covers 70% of the earth. There is more carbon stored in the Earth's soils than there is in the atmosphere and forests combined. Climate change is causing the oceans to warm up, and the warmer an ocean is, the less co2 it can absorb. Forest fires whether caused by humans or nature also release huge amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

We can stop global warming by using public transport or getting electric cars. We can also power our home with renewable energy, eat the food we buy, make less meat, plant trees, and reduce water waste. We can stop burning fossil fuels and stop cutting down trees.