NASA shows how carbon is killing the Earth
The US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has created an animation that clearly demonstrates the emissions of the most common greenhouse gas, carbon (CO2). The visualisation covers emissions for 2021.
The animation was shown on the official NASA website
Deforestation, manufacturing, and other human-made factors are exponentially increasing CO2 emissions. This process leads to global climate change and disasters, as carbon limits the radiation of heat into space and contributes to the so-called greenhouse effect, and thus global warming on the planet.
In three videos, NASA showed different regions of the Earth and their level of carbon pollution. And also, the four main sources that produce excess carbon:
fossil fuels - orange
biomass combustion - red;
terrestrial ecosystems - green
ocean - blue;
This video shows the Americas. Some interesting features can be seen in the visualisation, such as the large fossil fuel emissions from the northeastern urban corridor stretching from Washington DC to Boston. Also, the influence of plants over the tropical Amazon, which absorb carbon during the day and release it at night, is noticeable.
This shows the sources that produce CO2 over Asia and Australia. The most notable are the voluminous fossil fuel emissions from China, which load the atmosphere with carbon dioxide. In contrast, Australia will see much lower emissions in 2021 due to its lower population density.
The last animation shows Europe, the Middle East and Africa. It shows European fossil fuel emissions as well as emissions from fires over Central Africa. Fires, of course, are a much smaller source of carbon emissions, but they are important because they can change the ability of the ecosystem to absorb CO2 in the future.
In recent years, world leaders have been increasingly trying to consolidate their efforts to reduce carbon emissions. For example, the German government has embarked on a decarbonisation drive by allocating €53 billion to finance its industrial sector in the transition to carbon-neutral production technologies.
And recently, during a referendum in Switzerland, the population supported the country's move towards climate neutrality. By 2040, Switzerland is expected to reduce its emissions by 75% compared to 1990.
Also, in 2021, the European Council passed a law requiring member states to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 55% by 2030 and become climate neutral by 2050.