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20 million Jumbo Jets

Geologist, Alasdair Skelton, illustrates how much carbon we release to the atmosphere every year by comparing its weight to 20 million jumbo jets.
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Each year, we add 4 petagrams of carbon to the atmosphere. But what does that mean? How much is 4 petagrams? Well, 4 petagrams is 4 billion tons. But how much is that? Well, let’s think about it. An unladen jumbo jet weighs roughly 200 tons. If we divide 4 billion by 200, we get 20 million. That means 4 petagrams weighs the same as 20 million jumbo jets. That’s how much carbon we release to the atmosphere every year.

Each year we add four petagrams of carbon to the atmosphere. But what does that mean? Geologist, Alasdair Skelton, compares this weight of carbon to with the weight of 20 million Jumbo Jets.

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