One of the leading causes of climate change is the rising amount of carbon dioxide that is in the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide acts as a greenhouse gas that will keep heat in our atmosphere, making our planet hotter and hotter, disrupting our weather patterns, and will eventually make life very unpleasant for humans.
Carbon dioxide does get into the atmosphere from plant and animal respiration, but even more carbon is released into the atmosphere through the burning of fossil fuels. When it’s in the atmosphere the carbon molecules combine with oxygen in the air to form carbon dioxide. This burning of fossil fuels has been happening more and more since the industrial revolution. In this modern time we are faced with the issue of rising levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and how to keep the levels within a range that is comfortable (and livable!) for humans.
What if we could take that carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, and store it in the soil? If only some sort of state-of-the-art technology that could make this possible existed
Well, actually that technology has existed long before humans. It’s called “plants.” Everyone knows that plants breathe in what we breathe out (carbon dioxide). So plants are basically climate change combating machines. Plants breathe in carbon dioxide, and separate the carbon molecules from the oxygen molecules. They store the carbon in the soil with their roots and breathe out fresh oxygen for our lungs (as well as provide food for our bellies!).