Gabriela read in the newspaper that the amount of carbon in the atmosphere is increasing and that humans are responsible. She said, "If carbon in the atmosphere is increasing, the total amount of carbon on Earth must also be increasing."

The total carbon on earth is not increasing.

Human activities are releasing carbon stored on Earth into the atmosphere at a rate that is too rapid for it to be absorbed back into other systems. Trees absorb a lot of carbon, but they are being killed at an alarming rate and utilized as fuel, releasing much too much carbon. When fossil fuels are burned, carbon stored in long-dead creatures is freed. This and other instances demonstrate how quickly carbon is released into the atmosphere, despite the fact that total carbon on Earth remains relatively constant.

Hence, total carbon on earth is not increasing.

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The total carbon on earth is not increasing.

Explanation:

The truth is that human activities is releasing stored up carbon on earth into atmospheric carbon, at a rate that is too fast for it to be absorbed back into other systems. Trees take up a lot of CO2 but now they are felled at an alarming rate and used as fuel, releasing too many carbon. Carbon trapped in long dead organisms are released back from fossil fuels when they are burnt. This and many other examples shows how fast carbon is released into the atmosphere, but the total carbon on earth stays fairly constant.