Climate change: Earth's giant game of Tetris - Joss Fong

View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/climate-change-earth-s-giant-game-of-tetris-joss-fong There's a game of Tetris happening on a global scale: The playing space is planet Earth, and...

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To understand climate change,think of the game "Tetris."For eons, Earth has played a version of this game with blocks of carbon.They enter the atmosphere as carbon dioxide gas from volcanoes,decaying plant matter,breathing creaturesand the surface of the sea.And they leave the atmosphere when they're used by plants during photosynthesis,absorbed back into the ocean,or stored in soil and sediment.This game of Tetris is called the carbon cycle,and it's the engine of life on Earth.What's the connection to climate?Well, when that carbon dioxide is in the air,waiting to be reabsorbed,it traps a portion of the sun's heat,which would otherwise escape to space.That's why carbon dioxide is called a greenhouse gas.It crea...