You won't find it in your kitchen or bathroom:
Carbon sinks are natural systems that suck
up and store carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
The main natural carbon sinks are plants,
the ocean and soil. Plants grab carbon
dioxide from the atmosphere to
use in photosynthesis; some of this carbon
is transferred to soil as plants die and
decompose. The oceans are a major carbon
storage system for carbon dioxide. Marine
animals also take
up the gas for photosynthesis,
while some carbon dioxide simply dissolves
in the seawater.
"Combined, the Earth's land and ocean
sinks absorb about half of all carbon dioxide
emissions from human activities," said
Paul Fraser of the Commonwealth Scientific
and Industrial Research Organization.
But
these sinks, critical in the effort to soak
up some of our greenhouse gas emissions,
may be stopping up, thanks to deforestation,
and human-induced weather changes that are
causing the oceanic carbon dioxide "sponge"
to weaken, a new study led by Fraser and
detailed in the May 18 issue of the
journal Science found.
Scientists
are looking for ways to help nature along
by devising ways to artificially
sequester, or store, carbon dioxide
underground.
-
Andrea
Thompson.
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