Inside Scoops on the Environment

This Element is an excerpt from Curious Folks Ask 2: 188 Real Answers on Our Fellow Creatures, Our Planet, and Beyond (9780137057399) by Sherry Seethaler. Available in print and digital formats.

Gluttonous TVs, vampire appliances, nature that “burps,” and the truth about carbon dioxide.

The climate change issue has plenty of legitimate scientific debates. However, whether the increase in atmospheric CO₂ is less than, equal to, or greater than what humans have produced is measurable and should not be controversial. The increase is two-thirds or less of what humans have produced from burning fossil fuels and manufacturing cement: Nature has been a net absorber of CO₂.