Materials for today!

Take 1-2 minutes to go gather these supplies, if you

have them
● Pencil
● Paper or a notebook
● Colored pencils, markers, or crayons
(OPTIONAL)
Forests, Carbon, and Our
Climate
Learning Outcomes
● Illustrate the carbon cycle
● Name 3 carbon sources
● Name 3 carbon sinks/storages
● Analyze how forests play a role
in combating climate change.
Why should we care about carbon and our
climate?
Why should we care about forests, carbon,
and our climate?
Due to heavy human activity, Earth’s natural processes
are changing! When we create more factories, burn more
carbon, and destroy important ecosystems, such as
forests, the way carbon moves around the Earth changes.
Changes in these processes could be harmful to the Earth,
causing climate change!
 What is the carbon cycle?
● A cycle or process in which
carbon is moving everywhere
around the Earth, through
living and non-living things.
● Also think of it as ways to
store and produce carbon!
○ Carbon sink: A reservoir
or storage for carbon.
○ Carbon source: A
process that produces
https://www.noaa.gov/education/resource-collections/climate/carbon-cycle
carbon.
Let’s draw the carbon
cycle!
 Air ⇨ Plants
● Plants absorb carbon
dioxide, water, and sunlight,
converting it into sugars or
food for itself.
● Releases oxygen into the
atmosphere.
● This process is called
photosynthesis!
 Plants ⇨ Animals

● Animals eat plants for energy

and carbon is transferred to
their bodies.
 Animals ⇨ Air
● Animals release carbon back
into the air through respiration
(breathing) or animal waste.
● When animals die, their bodies
become dead organic matter
and decomposes in the Earth.
● Decomposition releases
carbon back into the
atmosphere.
 Animals ⇨ Soil

● In other cases, dead organic

matter is buried, storing
carbon in the soil.
● Over time, they are compressed
by the earth and become fossil
fuels (natural gas, oil, etc).
 Fossil Fuels ⇨ Air
● Humans extract fossil fuels
from the Earth to use as an
energy resource.
● Fossil fuels are burned to
generate energy such as heat,
power, and electricity.
● Once burned, carbon enters
back into the atmosphere.
Then the cycle starts
again!
Now look at your
diagram…….

Carbon sink
OR
Carbon source?
Carbon Sinks: Stores carbon Carbon Sources: releases carbon

Soil Plants Decomposition Animals

Dead Organic
Burning of fossil fuels
Matter
During the video, write down any
carbon sinks and carbon sources
that you see!
Due to heavy development, increased burning of
fossil fuels, and habitat destruction, humans are
emitting more carbon dioxide into the
atmosphere.

What happens when carbon overloads the cycle?

 The earth’s global temperature becomes abnormally
warmer! The more carbon, the more heat gets trapped
in the atmosphere. This is called the greenhouse effect.

When more heat is trapped, it causes climate change.

Climate change causes global climate patterns to shift
for an extended period of time. Changes can be seen in
temperature, precipitation, wind patterns, and etc.
Carbon sinks, such as forests, play a big
role in mitigating carbon emissions!
 Carbon Sequestration
● Trees absorb and store carbon from the
atmosphere, through photosynthesis.
● Removes ¼ of carbon in the atmosphere!
● It is important to preserve forest ecosystems,
as they play a big role in balancing the
carbon cycle.
How can we preserve forest ecosystems?
Eco-Challenge!
I challenge everyone to reduce
their paper use and to reuse paper!
This will help conserve forests as
the less we buy, the less people log.
What’s happening next week?
— We’ll be learning about mycology or the
study of fungi!
— Remember to bring a writing utensil and
something you can keep to write with next
time!
Thanks for tuning in, see
you all next week!