Understanding the Carbon Cycle and Climate Change

What is carbon?

• A kind of plant

• An element that is everywhere in the ecosystem

• A gas that plants produce

• A type of pollution

How do plants contribute to the carbon cycle?

• By releasing carbon into the atmosphere

• By burning fossil fuels

• By absorbing carbon from the air and storing it

• By eating animals

What happens to carbon when animals eat plants?

• It turns into oxygen

• It immediately goes back into the atmosphere

• It disappears

• It is stored in the animal's body

Where is most of the Earth's carbon dioxide found?

• In the atmosphere

• Dissolved in ocean water

• Inside animals

• In forests

What effect does burning fossil fuels have on the carbon cycle?

• It has no effect

• It removes carbon from the atmosphere

• It adds ancient carbon back into the atmosphere

• It creates new carbon

How can we help to keep the carbon cycle in balance?

• By cutting down more forests

• By planting more trees and using less energy

• By increasing our carbon footprint

• By burning more fossil fuels