Carbon Dioxide's Causes, Effects and Future

Carbon dioxide only takes up 0.04% of the earth’s atmosphere, but it still has a huge impact on the world.  CO2 is a gas that machines and humans release into the atmosphere.  For example, people exhaling, many types of transportation, and factories that emit CO2.  This pollutes the air and warms the environment.  CO2 is known as a greenhouse gas because it is a gas that can increase the global temperature by absorbing infrared energy and releasing it back onto earth. Carbon Dioxide accounts for more than 50% of total greenhouse gas emissions. If we didn’t have carbon dioxide, the earth would become colder, and we might not be able to survive. But, if the temperature keeps rising, sea levels will also rise because the glaciers in the ocean will melt. Plus, the weather will become unpredictable.  Flooding will occur frequently, and many coastlands and islands will become below the sea level.  Soon, maybe even everything will end up being below sea level.

However, researchers believe that they found a way to remove some CO2 while also generating clean energy using wind turbines.  When CO2 is dragged into the turbines’ wake, it is redirected into a carbon capture machine that can remove it from the atmosphere.  Another technique also being developed to clean CO2 the air is being developed off the Massachusetts and New York coasts.  These turbines were the first to be federally approved, and the Biden administration’s goal is to generate 30 gigawatts of offshore wind energy, or enough to power millions homes.  They plan to remove CO2 by using technology to capture the gas and then store it in reservoirs under the ocean.  This specific system requires a filter to capture the CO2. Once the filters are filled, the way to empty out the carbon dioxide is by using electricity and heat, then the cycle can repeat.   

Both of these wind turbines that are being developed will help improve the environment and climate by decreasing CO2 produced by cars and factories while still producing clean energy.  If multiple wind turbines are being built like this, global warming will gradually decrease.  You should also try to help decrease the amount of CO2 in the air by using cars less, using public transportation more, walking or using bikes instead. You can also protest about cutting down trees or plant more trees yourself.  In centuries or decades the effects will be more obvious to people than now.  The natural disasters that depend on heat like hurricanes will get stronger and lead to mass destruction of people’s homes, buildings, land, and the environment.  Acid rain will increase due to CO2 and other gasses or chemicals being released into the atmosphere.  Agriculture will become nearly impossible because of the droughts, floods and precipitation.  As a result, a decrease in food production might arise, which is dangerous because many people won’t have enough food to survive and will starve.  The seasons will begin to change, and the length and temperature of each season will be different.  Winter will be shorter, Spring will be earlier, Summer will be longer and hotter than before, and lastly, Fall will get shorter.  

There are many interesting and fascinating facts about global warming.  For example, did you know that this decade had the hottest climate in the last 125,000 years, or that oceans absorb up to 90% of the heat being emitted into the air?  According to researchers, studies show that in 2020, the ocean absorbed 20 sextillion joules of heat which is like many atomic bombs being dropped in the ocean at once. Many of the coral reefs have been destroyed and will continue to decrease.  Coral reefs are important for life on earth because it is a shelter for many marine species. Plus, they can protect coastlines from storms, flooding, and erosions, as they reduce the speed and power of waves hitting the coast.  Another interesting fact is we have lost 28 trillion tons of ice since the 1990s and the melting rate is 1.2 trillion tons of ice per year. 

 In conclusion, carbon dioxide has many dangerous effects that will gradually damage the earth. However, many researchers are working on wind turbines and many other ways to reduce the amount of CO2 in the air, and this will make the environment safer, cleaner, and enjoyable.