I'll put this in simpler terms than the textbook does.

"Plants are not the main sink of CO2"

The oceans contain about 60 times as much carbon as the atmosphere... The level of CO2 is controlled to a large extent by uptake and release from [the oceans].

The mechanisms for this are varied, and no-one is quite sure how significant each one is, or how it will change. The only common factor is that the all can only be seen with a microscope, or from a satillite.


Amos- Carbon dating only works for a limited length of time. Currently, using our best instruments, and a very good sample, this is about 100,000 years. It will never be possible to go much beyond that.

And that's a " The moon wil never turn into a lump of cheese " never, not a " Will this guy never get to the end of this off-pitch, unaccompanied version of Tam Lin?" Never...