Carbon & I

Carbon has been a present element on Earth since its very beginning. The Carbon Cycle represents all of the ways that carbon travels through the biotic and abiotic (living and non-living ecosystems) sections of the world as it changes states.

There are many ways that carbon ends up in the carbon cycle, one way is through sedimentation, plants and animals being buried under layers and layers of dirt, soil, rocks, etc. and being compressed over millions of years into fossil fuels such as coal, oil or natural gas.

Another way that carbon stumbles onto the carbon cycle is through respiration, the process in which animals inhale oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide into the world where plants absorb it and release oxygen, in a never-ending cycle.

Fossil fuels are made of living organisms that died millions of years ago such as plants and animals that eventually convert their energy and carbon into what we know as crude oil and coal. The process in which living organisms turn into fossil fuels takes millions upon millions of years, while humans are burning through Earth's supply of it over the course of hundreds of years. This means that fossil fuels are an unsustainable resource yet we are already reliant on them even though we will eventually run out of it with no way to replenish our supply.

Carbon in the modern world has both positive and negative effects. A positive aspect of carbon is that it allows us to advance technology and culture, with most of our tech such as phones, clothes, and other various pieces of technology that we take for granted today. A negative effect of carbon is that it essentially overloads Earth's supply of carbon in the atmosphere, which increased the greenhouse effect increasing the global temperature, ultimately devastating many species of animals and plants that have adapted over millions of years and are temperature specific.

I took a survey online that shows how much carbon that I'm saving throughout my life, and I found out that I'm saving 6,371 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions per year compared to the average American. For some odd reason it also told me that that is the equivalent to a car driving 6,796 miles.

      The Carbon Cycle in action

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d5/Carbon_cycle.jpg/1215px-Carbon_cycle.jpg

      A graph showcasing annual carbon emissions by region per year

http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/files/2014/06/Emission_by_Region-RRohde.png

Click here to go to a graph showcasing our carbon dioxide emissions throughout the years.