
54 Climate Management Issues
which produces CO
2
. The most prevalent source of this is through the use
of fossil fuels—coal, petroleum products, and natural gas (Figure 2.4). Fossil
fuels are large deposits of biomass that have commonly been preserved
inside geologic rock formations in the earth’s crust for millions of years.
Although they are preserved in rock formations, there is no release of car-
bon to the atmosphere, but as soon as they are processed into fuel products
and used for transportation and industrial processes, millions of tons are
CO
2
(fossil fuel use)
57%
CO
2
(deforestation,
decay of biomass,
etc.) 17%
CO
2
(other) ...