What is Carbon dioxide?

Carbon dioxide, or CO2, is the main anthropogenic greenhouse gas produced in the United States. This comes from the fact that we still burn a lot of coal and oil in the United States to produce heat, electricity, and other energy. Carbon dioxide is created when humans breathe out (it’s one of our waste products), when a body decomposes, and even when we make cement.

However, it’s the unnatural ways we create carbon dioxide in the United States that makes it so prevalent when greenhouse gas emissions are recorded. Due to how often we participate in the unnatural ways of adding carbon dioxide to the air, the plants and other natural sinks (places that carbon dioxide has naturally been stored away to keep the levels in the air safe) are having trouble keeping up.