Carbon sequestration
What does it mean to sequester something? If you're a pirate, you sequester your gold in a treasure chest. If you're a baseball-card collector, you sequester your cards in plastic binders. And if you're a forest, you sequester some of the world's carbon in your trees!
When forests grow, carbon is removed from the atmosphere and absorbed into the trees' wood and leaves and into the soil. Because forests (and oceans) can absorb and store, or sequester, carbon over an extended period of time, they are considered "carbon sinks." This carbon remains stored in the forest ecosystem and is released into the atmosphere when forests rot or burn.
Forests are often referred to as the earth's lungs. Why? Because not only do those green plants soak up carbon dioxide, they release oxygen into the atmosphere. Plants get their food from the soil and from the sun. The process they use to convert sunlight into energy is called photosynthesis, and it requires carbon dioxide. That's lucky for us. We need oxygen to breath, and we release a lot of carbon dioxide-not only when we exhale, but when we drive! Burning fossil fuels causes carbon dioxide to escape into the atmosphere, where it traps sunlight and raises the temperature of the plant. So every tree we lose adds carbon dioxide to the atmosphere-and increases the risks associated with global climate change.
Forests and Climate Change >>
Catalyst: Forest Carbon Sequestration >>
