Carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere through many steps of the carbon cycle, such as cellular respiration, photosynthesis, fossil fuel combustion, precipitation, and absorption. Carbon dioxide being released into the atmosphere is a natural process. However, humans have been releasing too much carbon dioxide, which is leading to climate change along with other issues. During cellular respiration, a small amount carbon dioxide is naturally released by humans and animals. During photosynthesis, plants take in carbon dioxide released during cellular respiration to make and release oxygen. This helps to naturally remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. During fossil fuel combustion, carbon dioxide is removed from the ground by mining, refining, and fracking. After it is removed, coal, oil, and natural gas are burned as an energy source. Burning these fossil fuels releases a dangerously large amount of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, which is leading to global warming, along with acid rain from precipitation and ocean acidification from absorption. During precipitation, carbon dioxide that has entered the atmosphere will sometimes fall back to earth as acid rain. During absorption, carbon dioxide dissolves into the ocean, making it more acidic. This may eventually cause harm to many oceanic organisms by damaging habitats and disrupting the food chains. Carbon dioxide is obviously needed for natural processes, such as the carbon cycle, to occur, but we are producing too much and it is causing global warming and other harmful problems to occur.

      According to data from NASA graphs, from 2005 to 2013, the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere drastically increased. causing the global temperature to rise. This increase in temperature is leading to problems such as September Arctic sea ice decreasing, the mass of land ice sheets decreasing, and sea levels rising. In the Arctic, September is when the Arctic sea ice reaches it’s minimum and the minimum is beginning to decrease. In 1980, there was about 8 million sq. km. of sea ice, and in 2012, there was just under 4 million sq. km. of sea ice. This is a drastic decrease within just 32 years. In Antarctica and Greenland, land ice sheets have been losing mass. Since 2002, ice mass in these areas have been fluctuating but have overall been declining steadily. Along with all this ice melting, the ocean is warming up, causing it to expand, because 93% of the extra heat trapped by manmade global warming pollution goes into the ocean. Ice melting and ocean warming contributes to sea levels rising. From 1870 to 1990, the sea level rose by almost 200 mm., and from 1994 to 2012, the sea level rose by about 60 mm. The amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is already too high and still rising, and it is causing severe impacts on the environment.

      Scientists predict that if the global temperature overall continues to increase, it could have devastating impacts on our environment and society. If our global temperature were to rise by just 6°C, it is predicted that oceans would become marine wastelands, desert areas would spread like crazy, the world’s greatest cities would become flooded and abandoned, and natural disasters would become common events. If this ever actually happened, mass extinction would become a good possibility since most species wouldn’t have the chance to adapt to the rapidly rising global temperature.

      Human behavior is the main cause of climate change. As humans, we release huge amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere by using nonrenewable energy sources such as coal, oil, and natural gas. We need to start using more renewable and cleaner energy sources such as wind, water, solar, and even nuclear energy. Very few households currently use renewable energy because nonrenewable energy it is less expensive and more accessible. Renewable energy may be more expensive, but in the long run, it is a better choice overall when it comes to the environment. Renewable energy is already being used on a small scale, but in order to actually make a difference for the environment, it needs to be used on a much large scale. However, according to the video Planet Oil: Climate Wars, “Nuclear, renewables, and energy efficiency could all play a role in solving our future energy problems. The problem we face is that it will take years, possibly decades, until these energy sources exist on such a scale that they can replace hydrocarbons. In other words, it’s going to take time.” This is why we need to start using renewable energy sources on a larger scale as soon as possible, despite the financial burden. This can’t be put off any longer; we need to make this our priority because the Earth’s environment and our lives depend on it.