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The carbon cycle is the cycling of the element carbon through the atmosphere,
land, and oceans. It's driven by geological, biological, and chemical processes.
And you
experience the carbon cycle as you exhale CO2. That goes into the
atmosphere. That CO2 molecule stays there for about four or five years
before being taken up by plants in photosynthesis and later returned to the
atmosphere through microbial decomposition.
We're studying the carbon cycle here because CO2 and methane are
important greenhouse gases, meaning they contribute to climate change. By better
understanding the carbon cycle,
we should be able to better predict climate change and prevent it.