Imagine a giant balance scale. On one side of the scale, you have all the greenhouse gases (like carbon dioxide) that people release into the air by doing things like driving cars, making stuff in factories, and powering homes with fossil fuels.

The carbon cycle, the greenhouse effect, the origin of fossil fuels, and how carbon affects nearly everything on Earth. The Carbon Cycle The carbon cycle is nature’s way of keeping carbon moving—cycling it from the atmosphere to the earth and…