Where does all the carbon we release go?

A brief answer to one of the key questions about climate change: Where does all the carbon we release go? (Written by Myles Allen, David Biello and George Zaidan)

Where does all the carbon
we release go?

Carbon works in a natural cycle,
present in all living things:

in the soil, in the oceans,
in the atmosphere

and in rocks deep underground.

When plants and other living things die,

much of their stored carbon
makes its way back to the atmosphere

until new plants grow
and reabsorb the carbon.

But over millions of years,

some of the carbon stored in ancient trees
and sea life becomes rock

and some becomes fossil fuels:

coal, oil and natural gas.

Natural events like volcanic eruptions

release some of the carbon
trapped in rock.

And human activities,
like burning fossil fuels,

also release some
of that prehistoric carbon.

Today, humans release
around 60 times more carbon

than all the volcanoes
on the planet each year.

That overloads Earth's carbon cycle

and builds up in the atmosphere

and oceans.

Planting more trees will help,
but trees alone can't get us to net zero.

There's only one sure way
to stop global warming.

We must stop releasing
this excess carbon into our air.

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