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Carbon Sinks, Sources, Budgets, and Neutral By: Samantha Samander and Rocio Suarez Outline Carbon Sinks Carbon sources Carbon Budget Carbon Neutral What are Carbon Sinks? A forest, ocean, or other natural environment viewed in terms of its ability to absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Simply put Carbon sinks are natural systems that suck up and store carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Carbon Sinks Oceans Marine plants (phytoplankton, algae, etc) in the sunlit surface layer of the ocean take in carbon dioxide from the air for photosynthesis. When the plants die they sink into to the deep ocean as sediments where the carbon is stored and prevented from entering the atmosphere. As these Co2 levels climb in the oceans marine life suffers. The seas serve as the biggest supply for Co2 caused by burning oil gas and coal. They absorb about a third of the Co2 humans put into the atmosphere each year. Despite carbon moving in and out of the ocean daily there's an amount that is kept stored. Carbon Sources A sink absorbs more Co2 than it gives off, while a source emits more than it absorbs. Co2 in the atmosphere are the carbon sources. Sources of atmospheric Co2 include volcanoes, fires, decomposition, respiration, agriculture, and the burning of fossil fuels. Carbon Sinks Land Co2 is absorbed from the atmosphere through photosynthesis. It then is stored in trees and plants as they absorb the Co2. Decaying organic matter such as dead trees, branches, plants, and leaves transfer some carbon in the soil as the roots of trees. Some Co2 is lost back to the atmosphere through respiration of plants and forest fires as well Carbon is also released by manufacturers using trees due to the trees holding carbon in which are taken out by the burning of wood or decomposition. Example/Model What is a Carbon Budget? A Carbon Budget amount of carbon dioxide that a country, company, or organization has agreed is the largest it will produce in a particular period of time The global carbon budget is the estimated amount of total carbon we can dump into the atmosphere and still have a reasonable chance of avoiding “dangerous” climate change Example The UK has set emissions targets to be able to restrict the amount of greenhouse gases they legally produce in a five year period. They are current in the second carbon budget period which goes from 2013 to 2017. Purpose The purpose of the creation of this budget is to allow the government to monitor the decrease percentages compared to their 1990’s emission levels and set new goals for the next years. This will also be reported every year to the parliament. When monitoring this progress, they also analyze factors such as how low the energy use could go to if they change its infrastructure, emissions from new cars and progress of electricity market reform. The Committee on Climate Change also allows the public to check some of their annual reports What is Carbon Neutral? It is when organizations, businesses or individuals take action to remove as much carbon dioxide from the atmosphere as they put on it https://youtu.be/9pPsso2acew Example A business uses a lot of energy each month -> They plant a certain amount of trees according to the amount of energy they used the past month. Pros and Cons Pros: Carbon sinks allow a place for the majority of Co2 to be stored in Cons: Oceans become more acidic, marine life suffers, and an increase in Co2 in the atmosphere by deforestation. Pros and Cons One favorable factor for the Carbon Budget is that it helps businesses or countries to keep track on their emissions to avoid releasing more than what they should. One unfavorable factor is that even though it has a total amount of emissions businesses/countries are supposed to release there is not an actual guarantee that they won't do it. A favorable aspect about Carbon Neutrality is that it creates an environmental responsibility in the organizations that decide to work with it. An unfavorable aspect about it is that even though they compromise to plant a specific amount of trees per month of work the environment would still have to wait for those trees to grow old enough to be able to compensate the emissions of the company