The Cabon Cycle

THE CARBON CYCLE

This book is intended to start a conversation about climate change, the Sustainable Development Goals, and how we can work towards meeting the goals in our communities and beyond.

Use it as a launching point with your students towards building a common language around climate action and how it affects their community and others around the world.

Written by Hunter Hennigar & Jeff Hennigar Photos courtesy of Canva.com Brilliant Labs, 2021

What is Carbon?

Carbon is one of the most important elements for life on Earth. It is found as solid, liquid and gas. Fuels we use like gasoline and oil are made of carbon.

Plants are made of carbon. We are even made of carbon!

The Carbon Cycle Nature had carbon in balance for billions of years. Our planet likes to have some carbon in the air, some in the living things, soil, and oceans. But most of the carbon on Earth is buried deep underground.

This pump is taking oil from deep under the ground. What do humans do with the oil?

Carbon naturally moves between these places through the carbon cycle. Plants absorb carbon from the air. Living things die and their carbon becomes part of the soil.

Then the farmers use the soil to grow new plants. Can you think of other ways carbon changes form in the carbon cycle?

The Problem with Carbon The problem is that humans are taking so much carbon from under the ground that it is changing the balance of the carbon cycle.

Humans take this fuel from deep underground and use it to fuel factories, make electricity, and keep a billion vehicles moving across the planet. When you burn carbon, it changes into a gas. This puts more carbon into the air than Earth needs. What happens when there is too much carbon in the air?

The Greenhouse Effect There are layers of gases around the Earth, this is called the atmosphere. Currently, it has a thicker layer of carbon than it needs. The atmosphere lets the heat from the sun pass into the atmosphere, but it doesn't let as much out as it should. The heat is trapped inside. Over the past 100 years or so, this has raised the Earth's temperature a little bit each year. This is called global warming, or climate change.

Climate Change The scientific community agrees that the changing climate is caused by humans. This change is affecting Earth in many negative ways. The melting polar ice caps is just one of many long-term problems being caused by climate change.

Do some research and find out how a warmer Earth is affecting plants, animals, and humans. What can we do to reduce the amount of carbon being put into the air?

Glossary atmosphere: the layer of gases that surround a planet. carbon: a chemical element found in all living things on Earth. carbon cycle: the movement of carbon between the air and in various forms on Earth over time. climate change: a long-term change in the normal weather patterns in a place. global warming: The heating of the Earth's climate over time. scientific community: a network of many scientists that study different topics, and share their findings with each other to help everyone better understand science.

Inquiry Questions: Climate action means making small and big changes to the way we use carbon-based fuels.

How can you use less electricity in your home and school?

What about businesses in your community. How could they do things differently to help slow down climate change?

What decisions is your government making that is affecting climate change?

Take It Further: Prototype a plan or solution for a local company that would help them make less negative environmental impacts. How could you present this information to them in a meaningful way?

Visit projects.brilliantlabs.ca and search the project linked to SDG #13 for more project ideas.

HOW WE CAN HELP TEACHERS & EARLY LEARNERS Brilliant Labs is a not-for-profit, hands-on technology and experiential learning platform based in Atlantic Canada. We support the integration of global citizenship, creativity, innovation, coding, and an entrepreneurial spirit within classrooms and educational curricula.

If you have questions about our organization and how we can help you in your classroom or virtually, please connect with us by email at info@brilliantlabs.ca or visit www.BrilliantLabs.ca