Atmosphere Lab

Lab4-Atmosphere-BasicsofImpactsNP x

Atmosphere
:Basics of Impacts

Comment by Melissa Wilson:

Please see my comments about this lab in the ENVS 102 Online section review. This seems more like a homework assignment than a hands-on activity. I would suggest checking out the Car emissions lab (it was approved as a “Gen Ed” common graded assignment before we learned we didn’t have to do one for 102). Comment by Ellen Lathrop-Davis: Could students investigate what’s the biggest problem in their area and/or suggest hypotheses as to the cause or pose solutions based on a literature search?

3.6

and Climate Change

Name:
Goals and Objectives: Comment by Ellen Lathrop-Davis: Really, none of the labs should say “goals and” if all the students are getting are objectives. Goals could include enhance students’ understanding of this, that or the other.

After completion of this activity students will be able to:

1. develop their understanding of major atmospheric concepts; Comment by Ellen Lathrop-Davis: Develop is hard to measure unless you have something like a pre-lab and post-lab activity. Explain, discuss, etc., could be used.

2. explore indoor air pollution causes and solutions; and List the levels of the atmosphere Comment by Ellen Lathrop-Davis: Also difficult to measure. See Bloom’s taxonomy at http://www.celt.iastate.edu/teaching-resources/effective-practice/revised-blooms-taxonomy/

3. Explain the importance of the Troposphere and Stratosphere

4.

learn the value of a tree as both a commodity and as a natural service (carbon dioxide). discuss various sources of pollution Comment by Ellen Lathrop-Davis: If this were “explain the value…” or “discuss how trees are both …” it would work as a Comment by Melissa Wilson: If this is just extra credit, is this really a legitimate objective?

5. discuss the effects of acid rain, loss of ozone and pollution on the environment

6. explain the greenhouse effect and its relationship to climate change.

Introduction:

The earth’s surface contains five subsystems; the atmosphere, lithosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere and sociosphere. The atmosphere is a thin, gaseous envelope that surrounds the earth. Gravity is the force responsible for holding these gases around the earth. The lithosphere includes the earth’s crust and part of the upper mantle. It forms the solid rock layers of the earth and includes both bedrock and minerals. All of the earth’s water makes up the hydrosphere and it includes water in the atmosphere, on the surface and in the earth’s crust. The living portion of the earth contains the biosphere and sociosphere. All the earth’s living organisms, except humans makemake up the biosphere. All human beings and their interrelationships make up the sociosphere.

Forming a profile of the atmosphere, based on temperature, the atmosphere can be divided into five layers:

Exosphere (furthest from earth’s crust) Comment by Melissa Wilson: A diagram would be nice here. The book has one. Comment by Ellen Lathrop-Davis: Remember to cite any sources you use including images.

Thermosphere

Mesosphere

Stratosphere

Troposphere (closest to the earth)

Concerns are with the Stratosphere and Troposphere Comment by Melissa Wilson: Is this a title? Comment by Ellen Lathrop-Davis: Looks like it. Make it bold?

The troposphere is the lowest layer of the atmosphere and it begins at ground level and extends upward approximately 10 miles to the tropopause. Temperature decreases with altitude. MostAll of the atmosphere’s water vapor and clouds are contained in the troposphere; it is our source of weather and climate. The troposphere is well mixed vertically and it only takes a few days for pollutants to reach the top of the troposphere. Substances that enter the troposphere often get washed back to the earth’s surface by precipitation. Comment by Melissa Wilson: This makes it sound like water vapor is ONLY in the troposphere, when it is in other layers, too. Comment by Ellen Lathrop-Davis: Maybe change that to most instead of all?

The stratosphere begins around 10 miles up and extends to approximately 30 miles up. In this layer, the temperature increases with altitude. The increase is due to ozone, which absorbs high-energy radiation from the sun. There is little vertical mixing in the stratosphere, therefore there is a slow exchange of gas with the troposphere. Substances that enter the stratosphere remain there for a long time. There is no precipitation in the stratosphere. Comment by Ellen Lathrop-Davis: Meaning above the surface? why not say that?

The three major phenomena affecting the atmosphere are acid rain, ozone depletion, and global warming. Comment by Melissa Wilson: You say “three” major phenomena then list a 4th below (outdoor airpollution).

Acid Rain
(see

http://www.epa.gov/acidrain/what/index.html

) Comment by Ellen Lathrop-Davis: There are activities for the other sections, why not this one? Or a note that this will be investigated through another lab.

Acid conditions from mine runoff, acid rain, and even from the causes of global warming all affect the pH of water. This can have severe consequences, especially for coral reefs and other aquatic life.  Review the scale in Figure 1 which is taken from http://www.epa.gov/acidrain/measure/ph.html.   Comment by Ellen Lathrop-Davis: Tell what those are at this point. Comment by Ellen Lathrop-Davis: Be sure to include a reference section and use the correct APA or CSE format for the in-text citation.

Figure 1. The pH scale

Acid rain or acid deposition is rain or snow that has a pH below 5.6. Normal, unpolluted rainfall is slightly acidic with a pH of about 5.6. (The pH scale runs from zero, the most acidic, to 14, the most alkaline. A pH 7 is neutral – the point at which most organisms thrive.) Comment by Ellen Lathrop-Davis: Put this last followed immediately by “Rainfall in Maryland…” Comment by Ellen Lathrop-Davis: Most students probably won’t know this. Take it out of parentheses and put it first.

Each whole number difference between pH indicates ten times the acid or base strength of adjacent values. (i.e.That is, pH 2 is ten times more acidic than pH 3. A pH of 2 is 100 times more acidic than pH 4 (10 x 10 = 100). Comment by Ellen Lathrop-Davis: Keep this with the previous sentences.

The slight acidity of normal rainfall results from carbon dioxide (CO2) in the air. When it dissolves in droplets of rain, CO2 reacts with water to form carbonic acid (H2CO3), which partially ionizes to release H+ ions. Comment by Ellen Lathrop-Davis: Put this before acid rain and right after the “normal, unpolluted rainfall…”

CO2 + H2O → H2CO3

Rainfall in Maryland may be as low as pH 4.0.

Ozone depletion (see

http://www.epa.gov/oar/oaqps/gooduphigh/

)

Ozone is found in two layers of the atmosphere. Ozone in the troposphere is a pollutant. Ozone in the stratosphere protects us from ultraviolet radiation produced by the sun. The sun emits both visible light and ultraviolet radiation (shorter wavelengths). When absorbed by biological tissue, ultraviolet radiation damages protein and DNA molecules at the surface of living things. Ultraviolet radiation is highly toxic to plants and animals; it causes skin cancer, cataracts and tissue damage (mutations). Comment by Ellen Lathrop-Davis: Put the cause here.

Ozone is formed when ultraviolet radiation splits some O2 apart into free oOxygen atoms. There is a dynamic equilibrium between the production and destruction of ozone.

Chemicals in the stratosphere will influence the ozone equilibrium. CFC’s in coolants, etc., and hHalon’s in fire extinguishers are the chemicals responsible for changing the dynamic equilibrium and depleting ozone in the stratosphere. For example, a single Cl (chlorine) atom from CFC’s will enter the stratosphere and destroy tens of thousands of ozone molecules and will reside in the ozone layer (ozonosphere) for 40-100 years once it enters the stratosphere. Comment by Ellen Lathrop-Davis: Keep that in the same paragraph as the previous sentences. Comment by Ellen Lathrop-Davis: Write any acronym out the first time it’s used with the acronym in parentheses. Comment by Ellen Lathrop-Davis: Use lower case unless you’re referring to a particular version.

Global Warming/Climate Change (see

http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/

and

)

Global warming is the term given to the possible gradual warming of the earth’s atmosphere due to the greenhouse effect. The greenhouse effect is the increase in the atmospheric temperature due to an increase in carbon dioxide and other gases absorbing and trapping heat radiation that normally escapes from the earth. Comment by Melissa Wilson: This is misleading. The greenhouse effect has always occurred, it is not just happening now. Climate change is happening due to increased greenhouse gases which are amplifying the greenhouse effect. This should be rephrased. Comment by Ellen Lathrop-Davis: Add an explanation with citation about how most climatologists & atmospheric scientists agree that anthropogenic increases have exacerbated the problem.

The first of four parts of the 2013-2014The Fifth Assessment Report from the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) draft report was released. (see https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar5/). in the fall of 2013 (Plattner, 2013).  This first report highlights the physical sciences basis and clearly states that global warming is “unequivocal”, or without doubt, and that human influence contributed at least 50% to the observed warming.  The IPCC is projectsing some pretty a serious global sea level rise based on different scenarios as a result of the increase in Greenhouse greenhouse Gases gases and ensuing climate change and warming that has occurred and is likely to continue to occur (see Figure 2 – from 

http://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/presentations/ar5/wg1/plattner13geneva_gen

).  Comment by Melissa Wilson: Needs to be updated as this was fully released now. Comment by Ellen Lathrop-Davis: First report or part? Comment by Ellen Lathrop-Davis: of what? Comment by Ellen Lathrop-Davis: Use APA or CSE format for the in-text citation.

Figure 2. Projected changes in global mean sea level.

4. Outdoor
Air Pollution (see

http://www.epa.gov/airtrends/sixpoll.html

) Comment by Melissa Wilson: I am confused why outdoor air pollution is discussed here, but indoor air pollution is not. Yet, questions are asked of both types in the analysis section. Comment by Ellen Lathrop-Davis: Agreed. Add a section on indoor air pollution before this one on outdoor.

Over the past year, you may have read about the massive air pollution problems in China (

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/asia/july-dec13/smog_10-21.html

).  I have seen firsthandThere is a clear the difference between a heavily polluted day in Beijing and a pleasant sunny one.  It is very stark and quite alarming.  What was is even more alarming was the amount of annual deaths attributed to the breathable particulate matter smaller than 2.5 microns from this air pollution that is smaller than 2.5 microns. 
The particle size of air pollution is really important.  A human hair is around 70 microns in width, so we are concerned about particles smaller than that.  Many air pollution standards were set at a particle size of 10 microns, but we can deeply breathe smaller particles around 3.5 microns and smaller. So the World Health Organization set the recommendations for particulate matter (PM) to be no less than 2.5 microns, also known as PM 2.5. (

http://www.who.int/phe/health_topics/outdoorair/outdoorair_aqg/en/index.html

).
The US has an air quality index (

http://airnow.gov/

) is based on information about the five primary air pollutants regulated by the Clean Air Act (

http://www.epa.gov/air/caa/

)
Comment by Ellen Lathrop-Davis: Is there anything more recent? Comment by Melissa Wilson: Other instructors may use this lab, so it probably would be good to rephrase or even show some pictures so that anyone can use it. Comment by Ellen Lathrop-Davis: Maybe use the set of images Wayne has showing the clear and hazy days.

· Ground level ozone

· Particulate matter

· Carbon monoxide

· Sulfur dioxide

· Nitrogen dioxide

The Global Burden of Disease Study 2010 was funded from a gGrant by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (

http://www.healthmetricsandevaluation.org/gbd

).  This unique study examined the impact from of various diseases along with the risk factors for those diseases in 21 global regions.  The independent Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington published the results of the 2010 study in the British medical journal, The Lancet (http://www.thelancet.com/themed/global-burden-of-disease) in December 2012.  This study made headlines when it was revealed that using the base-year of 2010, about 1.2 million deaths occurred in China just from outdoor particulate matter (PM) (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/02/world/asia/air-pollution-linked-to-1-2-million-deaths-in-china.html?_r=0).
According to this study, particulate matter (or soot) is the 7th leading risk factor for death in the world, the 4th higher risk factor in China, and the 8th highest risk factor in the United States.  In fact, it is estimated that about 103,000 deaths in the United States in 2010 were due to outdoor PM air pollution (

http://www.healthmetricsandevaluation.org/gbd/visualizations/gbd-heatmap

).  In Figure 3 is a table I created using data from the study Website website (http://www.healthmetricsandevaluation.org/gbd/visualizations/gbd-heatmap).
Comment by Ellen Lathrop-Davis: Give the proper APA / CSE in-text citation and include the URL with the end reference citation. Do that for all references in each lab. Comment by Ellen Lathrop-Davis: See comment about the previous URL. Comment by Ellen Lathrop-Davis: The Global Burden study? Include the proper APA / CSE in-text citation. Comment by Ellen Lathrop-Davis: This could be confusing here; just write it out.

Figure 3. Causes of death by rank in various parts of the world. Comment by Ellen Lathrop-Davis: Include a note about scale. Is 1 the most common cause and 10 the least? PM pollution doesn’t seem very bad compared to many others if that’s the case. What does 24 mean?

To see real time data for China, and parts of the rest of the world, check out – 

http://www.aqicn.org/map/beijing/

.

EXTRA CREDIT READING Comment by Melissa Wilson: This is extensive and already part of one of our labs. I do not think it is necessary (seems like a lot of work for just 5 extra points!). Comment by Ellen Lathrop-Davis: Agreed. Could the students also perform that lab instead?

5. Carbon Dioxide: Valuing an Externality – (see HYPERLINK “http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/ccs/index.html” http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/ccs/index.html)

Some have argued that the price of energy, especially from fossil fuels, does not equal the true cost of consuming this energy. That is, not all the expenses of obtaining and using fossil fuels may be captured by the monetary price of the fuels. Some costs may not have cash representation. Such cost are called externalities because their value is external to market calculations. Many economists believe that, because the price may not include all the costs, the price of using energy is substantially lower than the actual cost. If somehow these non-market expenses could be included in the price (known as internalizing the externalities), the actual price paid for energy would accurately reflect its costs.

The environmental cost of carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels may not be captured in the price of using oil, coal, and natural gas. Perhaps it is not surprising that carbon dioxide does not have a readily apparent monetary value. It is after all a “natural” part of the environment and not something we expect to be priced on the open market. In fact, without a market determination of its value, it can prove remarkably challenging to set a price on a value of carbon dioxide in the environment.

Many economists seek to determine the monetary cost of a ton of carbon dioxide emitted into the atmosphere. The reason behind such an effort is to measure a more accurate representation of the full costs of using fossil fuels. This is particularly important in the context of global warming. On one hand, global warming is driven primarily by increasing levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere (due to increased use of fossil fuels), yet on the other hand, the monetary cost of carbon dioxide emissions are not included in calculating the expenses of global warming. Recently, the European Union adopted a strategy to help reduce CO2 emissions in the EU. Under this approach, industries purchase permits to emit carbon dioxide. The number of allowable tons of CO2 is limited and reduced over time. The cost of such a permit, a finite supply, would be determined by how much industries, i.e. the demand sector, would be willing to pay to buy a permit. In short, the EU has set up a market for buying and selling carbon dioxide emission permits.

A key to this approach is to consider trees as natural resources. Now, a natural resource may be considered as a natural good (i.e. a commodity) or it may be considered a natural service (i.e. a process). As a natural good, trees provide many products, especially timber and pulp. As a natural service, trees also provide many important environmental functions, particularly cycling oxygen, water and, carbon.

Biomass production (i.e. wood) and carbon sequestration are two facets of the same process. The resource (wood) is directly bound to the service (carbon storage). One process, but two avatars. From the perspective of a natural good, the process is seen as timber production. From the other perspective as a natural service, the process is seen as a reservoir for carbon dioxide in the carbon cycle. Although one may consider the natural good and the natural service as two sides of the same coin, how each is valued on its own may differ widely.

Trees as service

Trees also provide significant natural services, such as carbon dioxide sinks, oxygen cycling, animal habitat, etc. This lab focuses on the storage, or sequestration, of carbon dioxide. In photosynthesis, trees take carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, and synthesize glucose, and release oxygen back into the atmosphere. The glucose in turn can be used for respiration or can be used as the building blocks of other organic molecules. One of the most important of these is cellulose, which is composed of chains of glucose. In this case, carbon changes from a gaseous form (carbon dioxide) to an organic solid form (cellulose). The carbon is stored in the material of the tree and does not immediately recycle into the atmosphere. The resulting organic material is known generally as biomass. The storage of carbon in the biomass of trees (i.e. wood) is called carbon sequestration and locations of carbon storage are called carbon sinks. Forests are significant carbon sinks in the global carbon cycle; much of the increasing carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere are offset by sequestration by trees. Conversely, as trees are cut down, less carbon dioxide is removed from the atmosphere, and when trees are burned, the sequestered carbon is released back into the air as carbon dioxide. In a sense, wood, or timber, is sequestered carbon.

How much carbon do trees actually store? To get a sense of this, consider the formula for photosynthesis:

6CO2 + 6H2O + Kinetic Energy C6H12O6 + 6O2 .

Carbon dioxide and water, inorganic substances, are synthesized with the use of kinetic energy (i.e. sunlight) to produce glucose, an organic form of potential energy, and oxygen. Carbon has an atomic mass of 12, hydrogen has an atomic mass of 1 and oxygen has an atomic mass of 16. The atomic mass of glucose then is the sum of the atomic masses of six carbon atoms (6 x 12 = 72) plus twelve hydrogen atoms (12 x 1 = 12) plus six oxygen atoms (6 x 16 = 96), or a total of 180 (72 + 12 + 96) atomic mass units. Of these 180 amu, 72 are comprised of carbon; put another way, glucose is 40% (72/180) carbon. Assuming for the moment that a tree’s biomass is all cellulose (glucose chains), then by weight a tree would be 40% carbon and the amount of carbon stored would be 40% of its biomass. In fact, trees have other organic molecules in them, such as proteins and lipids, and the actual percentage of carbon in trees is closer to 45%.

Note, though, that this 45% is a measure of how much carbon is sequestered, not how much carbon dioxide a tree removes from the atmosphere. For each carbon atom stored, a tree took in one molecule of carbon dioxide – one carbon and two oxygen atoms. To determine how much carbon dioxide a tree absorbs in the formation of biomass, consider the atomic mass of carbon dioxide. CO2 comprises one carbon atom (12 atomic mass units) and two oxygen atoms (32 amu) for a total of 44 amu. The weight of one carbon atom constitutes only 12/44th, about 27%, of the weight of a carbon dioxide molecule. Thus, one pound of carbon in wood represents about 3.6 pounds of carbon dioxide absorbed from the air. To answer the question how much carbon dioxide a tree sequesters, note that every pound of wood represents 0.45 pounds of carbon, and each pound of carbon represents 3.6 pounds of carbon dioxide. To simplify,

1 lb. biomass x 0.45 lbs C x 3.6 lbs CO2 = 1.65 lb of CO2

1 lb. biomass 1 lb. C

In sum, one pound of biomass represents 0.45 pounds of carbon stored and represents 1.65 pounds of carbon dioxide sequestered.

Activity 1
: Greenhouse Gases and Climate Change Comment by Ellen Lathrop-Davis: What about acid rain? Comment by Ellen Lathrop-Davis: Is there a way to change the focus to an investigation of causes?

Some gases located in the atmosphere hold the heat that is given off by the land, oceans and the vegetation in the form of invisible infrared radiation. Search the web, use a textbook, or review the PDF from the EPA website to answer the following questions. (Provide the URL source of your information at the end of each answer, and “use your own words”, to receive credit for answering the question.) Comment by Ellen Lathrop-Davis: Should this just be added to the section explaining about GG/CC? Comment by Ellen Lathrop-Davis: How about just use a reliable resource and be sure to cite that source using APA / CSE? Comment by Ellen Lathrop-Davis: Do you want to them that they must paraphrase and cite rather than quote for credit?

1. List the 4 most abundant general gases located in the atmosphere, starting with the most abundant, along with their percentages. Comment by Ellen Lathrop-Davis: Meaning? Is this even necessary if those gases don’t contribute to climate change?

2. The sun supplies the earth with its solar energy. Describe in detail using your own words how solar radiation heats the earth.

3. What is the difference between weather and climate? Comment by Ellen Lathrop-Davis: How about “Explain…”

4. What layer of the atmosphere is responsible for our weather and climate?

5. What is the greenhouse effect?

6. List the top greenhouse gases (GHG). Which is a more powerful GHG – CO2 or methane?

7. What is the difference between global warming and climate change?

8. Describe how humans have released more CO2 into the atmosphere. Comment by Ellen Lathrop-Davis: Could these be incorporated into the last question somehow?

9. Describe how humans have released more methane into the atmosphere.

10. Please describe any evidence to suggest that climate change is occurring. Please cite your sources.

Activity 2: Ozone Depletion Comment by Ellen Lathrop-Davis: This was discussed before climate change. Please keep put it before climate change here.

Ozone is a gas that contains three oxygen atoms. Ozone near the earth’s surface, in the troposphere, is a local pollutant which contributes to smog. However, ozone in the stratosphere absorbs damaging radiation from the sun, preventing it from reaching the planet’s surface. This radiation is a portion of ultraviolet light called UVB. Our concern over the ozone hole deals with this stratospheric ozone, and Step Three asks about this part of the ozone in the atmosphere. . Search the web, use a textbook, or review the PDF from the EPA website to answer the following questions: (Provide the URL source of your information at the end of each answer, and “use your own words”, to receive credit for answering the question.) Comment by Ellen Lathrop-Davis: Same as above: should this be added to the section explaining ozone depletion? Comment by Ellen Lathrop-Davis: See previous comment about sources.

1. What is causing the loss of ozone in the atmosphere? Be sure to include the 2 chemicals responsible for ozone loss in your answer.

2. What problems are associated with the increases radiation let in by stratospheric ozone depletion?

3. How can there be “bad” ozone and “good” ozone? Where is each type of ozone located?

Activity 3: Indoor Air Pollution

Use the following web sites, your text book or review the PDF’s from the EPA’s website to answer the following questions:

http://www.epa.gov/iaq/index.html

and/or

http://www.montana.edu/wwwcxair/

and/or

http://www.plant-care.com/indoor-plants-clean-air-1.html

and/or

Home

http://www.epa.gov/radon/index.html

. (Provide the URL source of your information at the end of each answer, and “use your own words”, to receive credit for answering the question.) Comment by Melissa Wilson: How come there was an intro section for everything but Indoor Air Pollution, yet the students still have to go read about it? Why not just include a section about it? Comment by Ellen Lathrop-Davis: Good idea. It should come before outdoor air pollution. See previous comments about sources.

1. What are some common household products that contribute to indoor air pollution? Comment by Ellen Lathrop-Davis: Could they investigate the products they have at home or use at work?

2. What are some health effects?

3. What can you do to reduce the threat of household air pollution?

4. List 3 plants that can help remove chemicals, such as formaldehyde, benzene & carbon monoxide, from the air. Comment by Ellen Lathrop-Davis: house plants?

Mold Comment by Ellen Lathrop-Davis: Maybe include something about mold in the info part. Could they investigate the conditions that influence mold growth and hypothesize as to which areas might be more prone to mold growth and then what can be done?

5. What is mold and how could it affect your health?

6. Where can hidden mold be found and how do you get rid of it?

Radon Comment by Ellen Lathrop-Davis: Similar comment to mold.

7. What is radon and how does it enter your home?

8. How does radon affect your health (does smoking compound the affect)? Comment by Ellen Lathrop-Davis: could that be a separate question?

9. Determine and record the radon levels for where you live, and do you think these levels should be a concern for you?

http://www.radon.com/radon/radon_map.html

Activity 4: Outdoor Air Pollution Comment by Ellen Lathrop-Davis: Could they investigate sources of PM 10 and PM 2.5 in their area? Maybe make develop a hypothesis about which areas would be most polluted and then suggest solutions?

Search the web, use a textbook, or review the PDF from the EPA website to answer the following questions: (Provide the URL source of your information at the end of each answer, and “use your own words”, to receive credit for answering the question.) Comment by Ellen Lathrop-Davis: See previous comments about sources and citations.

1. What are the top air pollution risks based on the 2010 Global Burden if Disease?

2. What is the difference between PM10 and PM2.5? Which is more harmful and why?

3. What the main health effects of PM2.5?

4.

EXTRA CREDIT OPPORTUNITY

Part Five – Carbon Dioxide: Valuing an Externality (5 points) Comment by Melissa Wilson: Since this part is “extra” you could probably still keep these questions since you refer the students to the website. I do not think you should include all the information on this at the beginning though since this is just “extra credit”. You should revisit the “Goals and Objectives” though.

Answer the following questions about Carbon Sequestration using “your own words” from the website: HYPERLINK “http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/ccs/index.html” http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/ccs/index.html

1. What is carbon sequestering?

2. Why is carbon sequestering important?

3. What sources of CO2 can be sequestered?

4. Use the HYPERLINK “http://www.epa.gov/cleanenergy/energy-resources/calculator.html” \l “results” EPA’s Carbon Equivalencies Calculator to determine the equivalency of 200 gallons of gasoline to:

a. Carbon sequestered by ________  tree seedlings grown for 10 years 

b. CO2 emissions from ________ propane cylinders used for home barbeques.

c. Choose one equivalency to list.

Comment by Melissa Wilson:

Revised Summer 2015 3.6 – 1