Carbon Dioxide is the most prominent greenhouse gas in Earth’s atmosphere. Carbon Dioxide is recycled through the atmosphere by the processes of photosynthesis and respiration. (UMICH)
Concentrations of Carbon Dioxide are naturally regulated by various processes of the carbon cycle. These natural processes can absorb almost half of the net 6.1 billion metric tons that are emitted each year, but the remaining 3.2 billion metric tons are added to the atmosphere annually. (EIA)
Humans release Carbon Dioxide by exhaling, burning fossil fuels, and deforesting the planet. (UMICH) About three-fourths of human-made carbon dioxide emissions are from burning fossil fuels. Fossil fuels include natural gas, oil, and coal.
The most common ways of burning fossil fuels are using gasoline for transportation, the generation of electricity in power plants, the high energy using factories, and home heating systems. (EIA)
8 comments:
You mentioned in your blog that one of the ways Carbon Dioxide is released into the air is by exhaling. With the population increasing every year at a significant rate, do you think that even if we stopped burning fossil fuels we could ever stop global warming?
In relation to Sara's comment: human exhalation obviously releases CO2, but does it cause any close to the same amount of damage as burning fossil fuels?Human beings have been on this earth for thousands of years; is the effect of our exhaling just starting now to harm the environment, or has it always been a small problem waiting to grow into a big one?
Carbon dioxide really seems to be the key to global warming. I'm interested in what the specific ways to recycle carbon are. Ariane mentioned on her blog that warmer dirt can hold less carbon dioxide. I'm curious as to what other mechanisms are compromised by global warming.
It is very interesting how the earth can take about half of the carbon dioxide out of the air naturally. When talking about reducing emissions to reach set goals, do you know if these natural processes are factored in? Also, are there similar processes for the other greenhouse gasses?
How are fossil fuels converted into useable sources of energy?
In relation to both Katy and Sara's comments, what is the rate that Global Warming is increasing each year solely from exhaling? I cannot imagine that the rate is that large. Are there countries that produce more CO2 from exhaling than others? Will less people need to live in these areas in order for the climate change to get better?
Human respiration is not an issue in terms of global warming. The carbon cycle is able to absorb about 2.9 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide annually. The Earth needs there to be some greenhouse gases in the atmosphere in order to keep the earth warm enough to sustain life. Exhaling is not harming the environment, it is just one way carbon dioxide is released.
When there are projections for how much CO2 will be released, that is the total, so a lot of that will be absorbed. A lot of the climate models do factor in natural processes because they try to predict temperature increase.
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