Carbon Cycle Negative

761 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Effect of carbon dioxide on humans and life on earth

The carbon cycle, one of nature's most important cycles. This cycle is all about the transfer of a certain molecule with six protons, neutrons, and electrons. Carbon is used by almost every single living thing and plays a largely beneficial part in all the areas of Earth, such as the hydrosphere, atmosphere, lithosphere, and biosphere. While most animals use and release carbon in a mostly consistent way, one species has overthrown the balance between taking and giving. The impact of this one species has greatly damaged the earth and will continue to do so in the future. Humans positively and negatively impact the carbon cycle in many, various ways. A few of these negative ways consist of deforestation, burning wood and the trees, and manufacturing products, such as iron and steel.
Firstly, deforestation is one of the many ways that humans negatively impact the carbon cycle. According to Lehigh University, deforestation is the most carbon-releasing activity that humans perform, besides burning fossil fuels. A source called, "Climatica" states, "The removal of vegetation eliminates plants which would otherwise be capturing carbon from the atmosphere through photosynthesis." These sources prove that human …show more content…

Heather Kolich states, "Industrial manufacturing emits lots of CO2, even though it only accounts for two percent of U.S. emissions. Iron and steel manufacturing and cement production are the biggest offenders. These industries consume monumental quantities of heat energy to convert raw materials into construction products." This source claims that even though "Industrial Manufacturing" emits a large sum of carbon, it is only 2% of the total emissions in the United States. In spite of this, it is still a lot of carbon that is put into the atmosphere, which upsets the balance between the four spheres of

Show More
Related

  • Greenhouse Gases Essay

    1123 Words  | 3 Pages

    Electricity production causes approximately 67 percent of 2014 greenhouse emissions, transportation contributes about 26 percent, industry is responsible for about 21 percent, commercial and residential generates about 12 percent, agriculture produces 9 percent, and land use and forestry yielded 11 percent. (EPA Environmental Protection Agency,

    Read More

  • Essay On Climate Change

    1442 Words  | 3 Pages

    When people burn fossil fuels to accumulate and produce energy a substance called carbon is produced. Carbon is released into the air in a form known as carbon dioxide. Carbon moves throughout the biosphere on the planet as it is recycled and reused. Carbon exists in the earth’s atmosphere in two common forms which are methane and carbon monoxide. These gases absorb and retain heat in a process known as the greenhouse effect. The Planets natural greenhouse effect makes life possible by regulating our temperature. It turns out that adding too much to the greenhouse effect can have horrible consequences on the environment. Each year, five and a half billion tons of carbon is released by burning fossil fuels and of that three billion tons enters the atmosphere. The remaining carbon usually gets absorbed by the oceans.

    Read More

  • Carbon Dioxide Environmental Effects

    1361 Words  | 3 Pages

    Carbon dioxide or CO2 is known to be one of a number of gases that are astonishingly transparent to the visible light that falls on the Earth from the Sun, but it absorb the infra-red radiation that emitted by the warm surface of our Earth, to prevents its loss into space. Moreover, CO2 has varied considerably and this affected the Earth’s temperature. Most common source of this CO2 is known as the fossil fuel. Fossil fuels are primarily coal, hydrocarbons, natural gas, or fuel oil that formed from the remains of the dead plants and also animals. The burning fossil fuel that has been created by humans is the largest source of emissions of the carbon dioxide.

    Read More

  • Cause And Effect Of Climate Change

    1405 Words  | 3 Pages

    Presumably, people can have a big impact on the world around them. The goods they consume or put out into the atmosphere can be harmful to the Earth and cause the climate patterns to change. “Oil provides 40 to 43 percent of all energy used by the world. Oil and coal each account for 40 percent of global warming emissions from fossil fuels worldwide. In the United States, energy use accounts for 82 percent of our global warming emissions, with oil counting for 42 percent of those emissions” (The Price of Oil). Our consumption of energy is helpful yes, but it also has a negative impact on our environment when used in large quantities. Another negative contributor of greenhouse gas emissions is vehicles.

    Read More

  • Earth’s Cycles and Global Climate Change

    1263 Words  | 3 Pages

    After the human involvement carbon levels in the atmosphere raised about 36% from a high of 280 ppm to a whopping 390 ppm (Houghton 37). In order to test if fossil fuel emissions are to blame for the increase in the carbon levels in the atmosphere, scientists looked compared emissions from the northern hemisphere and the southern hemisphere. They found that about 95% of the fossil fuels burned are in the northern hemisphere and when comparing the atmospheric levels in the northern and southern hemisphere it can be noted that the northern hemisphere is generally 2 ppm higher than the southern. Clearly there is an imbalance in the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and the natural resources involved in reducing those emissions due to human interference.

    Read More

  • Tragedy of Deforestation in Brazil and Indonesia

    1228 Words  | 3 Pages

    Deforestation began with man’s ability to manipulate his environment. Wood has always been a primary source for shelter and has been affected by human expansion. As the worlds population grew, so to did the need for wood to make housing. As cities grew so did the demand for space to accommodate the growing population. Throughout history and even today, man has manipulated the environment affecting it’s resources.

    Read More

  • Persuasive Essay On Deforestation

    765 Words  | 2 Pages

    “The Earth is 4.6 billion years old. Scaling to 46 years, human have been here 4 hours, the industrial revolution began 1 minute ago, and in that time, we’ve destroyed more than half the world’s forests.” - Unknown. One major environmental problem in our world is deforestation - what is that, you ask? According to the Merriam Webster Dictionary, deforestation is the action or process of clearing of forests. Some consequences of this include a large contribution to global warming and climate change (about 1.5 billion tons of carbon dioxide each year), loss of biodiversity especially in tropical rainforests, and the extinction of many known or yet to be discovered species. But, through some Debt-for-Nature Swaps, leaving forests

    Read More

  • What Role Has Human Activity Played in Causing Climate Change?

    801 Words  | 2 Pages

    According to Mr. Steffen, “The primary cause of the observed changes in the Earth’s climate are human activities—mainly the burning of fossil fuels” (Steffen, 2013). The process of burning fossil fuel unleashes a huge amount of greenhouse gases, especially carbon dioxide, to the atmosphere, disturbing the balance of greenhouse gases in the nature. As stated by Slaght, “The accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere due to human activities will change th...

    Read More

  • Deforestation and Biodiversity

    2666 Words  | 6 Pages

    Deforestation, defined by biologist Charles Southwick as "the destruction of forests; may involve clear-cutting or selective logging" (p. 365), is a predominantly human-driven process that is dramatically altering ecosystems worldwide. "Clear-cutting" involves the indiscriminant removal of every single plant and tree species from within a selected area. The other major process of deforestation, "selective logging," focuses removal efforts on only specific, predetermined tree species within a chosen area. The statistics gathered about human deforestation over time are considerable, and they can be somewhat controversial. Depending on the source and the location selected, the magnitude of deforestation varies. Southwick estimates that, approximately 10,000 years ago, 6.2 billion hectares (23.9 million square miles) of forest existed on earth (p. 117). That figure is equivalent to 45.5% of the earth's total land. He further estimates that, by 1990, this amount had declined 30%, with only 4.3 billion hectares of forest remaining (p. 117). Southwick also acknowledges other estimates that place the total amount of deforestation between 50% and 75% (p. 117). NASA has similar deforestation statistics that confirm these trends. According to their website, 16.5% of the Brazilian Amazon forests have been destroyed. They also note similar magnitudes of deforestation in Southeast Asia (Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam), despite the significantly smaller total area of forest within these countries. These grim figures are somewhat tempered by the NASA finding that, over the past ten years, the deforestation rate has declined from 6,200 square miles per year to 4,800 square miles per year. Though this trend is n...

    Read More

  • Importance Of Climate Change Essay

    1379 Words  | 3 Pages

    The emission of carbon dioxide has contributed to 80% to the heating of the earth atmosphere. Carbon dioxide is produced due the burning of fossil fuels such as natural gas, coal and oil. The burning of fossil fuel is very important in our society today, because it is used for cooking, used to produce electricity, for heating, for cooling and also for transportation. The industrialization has led to the use of fossil fuel for running machines and driving cars. The building of fossil fuel contributes towards 80-90% of the carbon dioxide we find in our atmosphere today. When the ecosystems are altered and vegetation is either burned or took out, the carbon stored in them is relinquished to the atmosphere as carbon dioxide (What causes global climate change, 2005). Methane is another gas being produced in the process which all have served to increase the greenhouse effect in our atmosphere. Methane is produced from the cultivation of rice, from the burning of coal and from cattle, it has increased by 145% due to human

    Read More

  • Anthropogenic Climate Change Essay

    1170 Words  | 3 Pages

    The most destructive human contribution to climate change is fossil fuels combustion, which results in the release of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Increased carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and halocarbons levels in the atmosphere cause an imbalance in the earth’s energy. This is because the gases alter solar radiation and thermal radiation which regulate the earth’s energy. Research indicates that anthropogenic climate change is the cause of the increased global warming over the last fifty years. 57 % of the carbon dioxide emitted is absorbed into the atmosphere while the rest is absorbed into the oceans. Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is the most central greenhouse gas that is associated with global warming (Eby, Zickfield, Montenegro, Archer, Meissner, & Weaver,

    Read More

  • Carbon Dioxide

    647 Words  | 2 Pages

    Humans and animals breathe out Carbon Dioxide, often referred to as the greenhouse gas, as a waste product. Plants take in this CO2 and use it to make food. This is called photosynthesis. During this process oxygen is released which is then breathed in by humans and animals. This procedure is repeated over and over and a natural balance is obtained. However this natural balance is disrupted by human activity. People of the world are putting more than 5.5 billion tons of CO2 into the atmosphere every year. 75% of this is caused from the burning of fossil fuels. These fuels are burnt all the time to run factories, power plants and vehicles. The main sources of CO2 emissions are electric utilities, residential buildings, industry and transportation. The other 25% is induced by the destruction of the world's forests. The reason for this is that there are less trees and plants to take in the CO2 but there is just as many, if not more, humans and animals to breathe it out.

    Read More

  • Impact of Deforestation on the Earth

    1391 Words  | 3 Pages

    Deforestation is the elimination of existing trees from the earth; attributable factors include urbanization, logging, ranching, and farming and to some extent land speculation. Land speculation can be included as cleared land is more valuable than forested land. Deforestation, done in the name of progress, and the long-term, devastating effects of it, is killing our planet.

    Read More

  • Carbon Emissions Essay

    769 Words  | 2 Pages

    The world’s greatest powers have shown a lack of interest in the way that they are destroying the environment around them. The rise of the climate through the years has been altering how different organisms have had to survive. The world’s use of fossil fuels and CO2 emissions is at an all-time high. The countries with the highest CO2 emissions are same countries with the largest economies. The United States, China, India, Japan, and Russia are the top five leaders in CO2 emissions. All together they account for around 60% of the total carbon emissions worldwide. In order to cut down on the amount of CO2 emissions counties need start regulating their larger industries that create the highest amount of carbon emissions.

    Read More

  • Deforestation as a Major Problem

    3202 Words  | 7 Pages

    Scientists themselves are just beginning to understand the serious problems caused by deforestation. Deforestation occurs all over the world by all types of people. Peasant farmers even add to the problem because in most tropical countries the farmers are very poor only making between eight hundred and fifty four hundred dollars annually (NASA Facts). Therefore, they do not have enough money to buy what they need to live therefore they must farm to raise crops for food and to sell. In these poor countries the majority of people are peasant farmers this farming adds up to a great deal of deforestation. These farmers chop down a small area of trees for there plot to farm on and burn the tree trunks (NASA Facts). The combined number of farmers maintaining this process creates a great deal of clearing and burning of the land they need to cultivate, which results in land being treeless. Commercial logging is also another common form of deforestation. This commercial logging wipes out massive amounts of land sometimes deforesting several miles at...

    Read More

More about Carbon Cycle Negative

Open Document