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Most "new" CO2 comes from burning fossil fuel (coal) for energy. Automobile exhaust is another large source. While animals exhale CO2, that CO2 tends to be recycled. Volcanoes also belch out CO2, though that is a tiny, tiny fraction of the CO2 liberated by human beings. When carbon is burned, it combines with two molecules of oxygen in the atmosphere, so the weight of CO2 released is about three times the weight of the initial carbon source. Humans currently are pumping roughly 30 billion tons (30,000,000,000 tons) of CO2 into the atmosphere from fossil fuel sources each year. At this rate it is building up faster than the planet can reabsorb it, so the consumption is not considered sustainable.

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14y ago

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