What role do forests play in carbon sequestration?
The subject of global warming elicits vivid conversations from scientists, politicians, students, and private citizens alike. Reports of mountain glaciers disappearing, rising ocean water levels, forests and farmlands being lost, and ozone holes have provoked concern among many people about the state of the global environment. Carbon dioxide (CO2) is the most abundant human-influenced greenhouse gas. A greenhouse gas is found naturally in the atmosphere in the upper atmosphere it captures sunlight energy and reflects it back to earth, in turn creating heat. This “blanket” of gas moderates the earth’s temperature. With increasing levels of carbon dioxide, however, research suggests that a thicker blanket will produce global warming. Carbon dioxide is an important molecule for life. All plants that photosynthesize absorb CO2 from the air, combine it with water, nutrients, and the energy from the sun to produce food and oxygen. The carbon in CO2 is the building block of plant life in a po
