The Duality of Carbon: Life’s Creator or Destroyer?

If you're even slightly aware of climate change, you've likely noticed that one word dominates the conversation: carbon. Have you ever wondered why? As oceanographer Roger Revelle wrote in 1985, CO2 is "the most important substance in the biosphere."

Carbon is the common element of all life as we know it. From the DNA in our cells to the food we eat, carbon is intricately woven into the fabric of life on Earth. In the human body, it is the second most abundant element, and in the universe, it ranks fourth. Carbon is present not only in living organisms but also in dead matter, fossil fuels, rocks, oceans, volcanoes, soil, and the atmosphere.

As it has been seen, it might therefore be correct to conclude that there is no life without Carbon. But why is such an essential element of life also associated with its destruction? The answer lies in the carbon cycle. There are several obvious signs, which indicate the presence of drastic change in the earth’s surface, but the most important one among them is the carbon cycle. 

Fortunately, the amount of carbon on Earth has remained the same since the time of the dinosaurs, but it constantly shifts between different forms through a delicate process known as the carbon cycle. Carbon circulates through the atmosphere, plants, animals, and water, maintaining a balance that sustains life.

Any disruption to this delicate balance can lead to mass extinction events, and it has already happened five times in Earth's history over the past half-billion years. One of the most notable was the Permian mass extinction, 251 million years ago, where around 90% of species were wiped out. It took nearly 10 million years for life to recover. Given current environmental trends, scientists believe we may be approaching a sixth mass extinction. I’m not saying this to incite fear, but rather to offer a reality check on the gravity of the situation.

 What is humanity doing to bring about this looming catastrophe? We’re disrupting the carbon cycle. For the past 150 years, we’ve been burning fossil fuels, releasing massive amounts of CO2 into the atmosphere—while it took nature hundreds of millions of years to bury that carbon deep within the Earth. Carbon itself isn’t the issue when it’s safely stored in fossil fuels or in the soil. In fact, the soil holds over 3,000 gigatonnes of carbon—four times the amount found in the atmosphere and all the plants combined.

The problem arises when carbon is released into the atmosphere, triggering global warming through the greenhouse effect. Greenhouse gases like CO2 trap heat from the sun, warming the planet. To give perspective, CO2 emissions in 1900 were 45 billion tonnes. By 2000, they had skyrocketed to 1,000 gigatonnes, and today we’re at 1,900 gigatonnes, with 30% of it still lingering in the atmosphere. This excess carbon is melting glaciers, acidifying oceans, and driving species out of their habitats.

But here’s the thing: we can’t eliminate carbon entirely. Without the right amount, Earth would turn into a frozen wasteland. The real issue isn’t carbon itself—it’s the excess in the atmosphere. Our challenge is to reduce that excess and sequester carbon back into the soil, where it can help sustain life.

This is the great task of our generation. Thousands of brilliant minds are already working on it, but we need more. To fight climate change, we must grasp carbon’s dual nature—the way it both supports and threatens life. The future depends on it.