Photo by kazuend on Unsplash
What is a carbon sink?
A carbon sink is something that absorbs more carbon than it releases into the atmosphere.
The ocean is the largest natural carbon sink. Wetlands, soil and forests are other important carbon sinks. But their ability to store carbon can be affected by pollution and deforestation.
To help combat this, artificial carbon sinks can be created by:
- Replanting trees.
- Ocean fertilisation. This idea has been around since the 1980s. It involves introducing iron or other nutrients to surface water to encourage blooms of microscopic marine plants (phytoplankton) that absorb carbon dioxide through photosynthesis. But this idea is controversial and there are concerns that it may even cause harm.
First prize is still reducing the amount of carbon we pump into the atmosphere by burning less fossils fuels.
