The Carbon Cycle and Carbon Capture to Address Climate Change

September 22, 2020

THE CARBON CYCLE AND CARBON CAPTURE TO ADDRESS CLIMATE CHANGE

With the adoption of the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, including its social, economic and environmental dimensions, momentum for meaningful change has been building. As a result, a universal legally binding agreement on carbon emissions finally seems to be within reach.

Although carbon is the basic material of all life on the planet, within the atmosphere, it is found primarily in the form of CO2. Only 280 parts per million (ppm) concentrations of CO2 were recorded prior to 1750. The global carbon cycle balance between the atmosphere and other carbon reservoirs such as oceans and terrestrial ecosystems were at near zero or in a state of balance. By 1957, ppm was at 315 and in 2005, as high as 380 ppm.

The carbon cycle can be likened to a bank account. When CO2 is generated through carbon reservoirs it is likened to withdrawals, and when CO2 is absorbed in ecosystems, it is likened to deposits where the overall effect is shown as the net balance. Since the Industrial Revolution (1760-1840), the ppm has accumulated – a close coupling between changes in these concentrations and Antarctic temperature, which is a related indicator to changes in permafrost and the oceans, thus providing a glimpse of the climate outcomes to follow.

Land-use changes to accommodate agriculture-based human settlements contributed to the increase in ppm as well, but when the internal combustion engine was invented, this created a significant new source of human-induced CO2 emissions. Coal, oil and natural gas – all reservoirs long removed from the global carbon cycle – were now being used. As a result, as early as 1910 emissions from fossil fuel combustion had exceeded those from land-use changes. To pursue the bank account analogy, in 2005 the oceans were still in a positive balance of about 2.2 gigaton of carbon stored.

Technological applications for the safe disposal of CO2 away from the atmosphere are being undertaken, which includes natural strategic ways of increasing the amount of CO2 capture through plant photosynthesis such as the increased urban use of green roofs, community gardens, living sculptures and tree planting.

According to the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), there is only a 10-year window left to restrict global warming temperature increase to between 1.5 and 2 degrees Celsius. Different organizations continue to collaborate to bring focus to the issue. For a number of years the United States Bahá’í Office of Public Affairs has facilitated the involvement of other Bahá’í agencies in the UNFCCC (the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) process as well as contributing thoughts on the integration of justice and equity concerns into climate planning.

Abdu’l-Bahá, son of the founder of the Bahá’í Faith, Bahá’u’lláh, renowned as a champion of social justice and an ambassador for international peace, spoke of “unity of thought in world undertakings, the consummation of which will erelong be witnessed.” The recently adopted international agreement on climate change, the Paris Agreement, signed by 195 countries and which aims to limit the global average temperature increase to less than 2 percent, offers another noteworthy demonstration of that development anticipated by ‘Abdu’l‑Bahá.

Carol Gravelle is an Ottawa-based published writer of fiction and non-fiction and a carbon capture community activist. She serves also as a part-time volunteer teacher of Baha’i children's classes. She believes that the survival of future generations depends on giving the children of today a new integrated, spiritually based vision and character training for the globalized world of tomorrow.