What are carbon sinks?

Carbon sinks are places on Earth that absorb extra carbon dioxide, like a sponge soaks up water.

Imagine you're playing with your favorite toy, let's say it’s a bucket. Every time you throw a ball into the bucket, it takes up space. Now think of carbon dioxide as those balls, when we burn things like cars or coal, we’re throwing more balls into the air. That makes the air feel stuffy.

But some places on Earth are like super buckets, they soak up all that extra carbon dioxide. These are our carbon sinks. The biggest ones are forests, oceans, and even soil under your feet!

Trees are like tiny superheroes. They take in the carbon dioxide we release and turn it into oxygen, the stuff you breathe in! It’s like they're cleaning up after us.

Oceans also help by absorbing some of that extra carbon dioxide, kind of like a giant sponge under the sea. So even when we make a mess with our toys (or our air), these big helpers clean it up for us!