Do Forest Fires or Cars Produce More CO2 Emissions?
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2024-12-13
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During the summer of 2023, there were record wildfires in Canada that caused poor air quality in many areas of the United States and around the world. Many people in the U.S. experienced this directly with hazy, smoky days that even caused some school activities to be canceled due to the poor air quality. In the western U.S., the number of wildfires doubled between 1984 and 2015. Climate change is causing warmer, drier conditions that have increased drought, leading to longer fire seasons and increasing the risk of forest fires. As more forest fires occur, there are increasing amounts of CO2 released into the atmosphere, which is causing further imbalance in the planet’s carbon cycle. Greenhouse gases include carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), and nitrous oxide (N2O). In this activity, you are going to primarily explore the sources of CO2 emissions.
Transportation also produces a high volume of CO2 emissions. Since the industrial revolution, global concentrations of CO2 have risen 48.1%, primarily due to the combustion of fossil fuels for energy. Within the U.S., fossil fuel combustion accounted for 92.2% of gross emissions in 2021. Globally, the U.S. accounted for 14.1% of CO2 added to the atmosphere through the combustion of fossil fuels in 2021.
Today you are going to be environmental engineers and do some investigating to better understand sources of CO2 and the impact of CO2 on the climate. In addition, you all will need to consider practical solutions to slow the rate of climate change. In particular, I want you to think about how the U.S. should spend its money to reduce carbon emissions: should it focus on reducing the number and size of forest fires? Or should the U.S. focus on reducing the CO2 emissions that result from driving cars?
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This hands-on activity is available at https://www.teachengineering.org/activities/view/nds-2865-forest-fires-cars-co2-emissions-activity
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© 2024 by Regents of the University of Colorado; original © 2023 North Dakota State University. Posted at request.