A sea of problems

Before the era of industrialisation, the oceans actually released more carbon into the atmosphere than they took in

While much of the discussions about global warming revolve around reducing emissions, the other half of the story — carbon sinks —is as important, if not more, for understanding the climate change challenge. A “carbon sink” is anything that absorbs more carbon than it releases into the atmosphere. Nature provides us with three — soil, forests and the oceans. Man-made or artificial carbon sinks also exist — deep underground natural formations or unused mines, which can be used to store carbon after capturing it, but currently the role these play is nowhere near as important as that played by forests