Schools brief | Where nature ends

Humanity’s immense impact on Earth’s climate and carbon cycle

Much needs to be done for the damage to be reversed

May 9th 2020

Editor’s note: This article is the third in a series of climate briefs. To read the others, and more of our climate coverage, visit our hub at economist.com/climatechange

IT IS ALL, in the end, a matter of chemistry. Carbon dioxide is a form of what chemists call inorganic carbon—a simple molecule that is pretty inert. Fossil fuels are made of carbon in its organic form—often complex molecules that are far from inert. Combustion turns these organic complexities into inorganic simplicities: carbon dioxide, water vapour and heat.

This article appeared in the Schools brief section of the print edition under the headline “Where nature ends”