HOW MUCH IS A METRIC TON (TONNE)?

It's hard to imagine an invisible gas having much weight, let alone a weighing ton.

A metric ton is the unit of mass that scientists use to measure the weight of carbon dioxide.

One Metric ton = 1000 kg(or 2204.6 pounds) and is about the same as the weight of about 440 bricks or a great white shark.

Imagining carbon emissions

One metric ton of carbon dioxide takes up about as much space as a 10-meter cube - a cube whose sides would equal the weight of the length of a telephone pole.

In new york city, nearly two metric tons of carbon are emitted every second, mainly by buildings that burn fossil fuels to generate electricity. That's about 150,000 metric tons of carbon per day.

In the united states and Canada, each citizen averages a little over 14 metric tons of carbon emissions per year (the weight of about 6,300 bricks). To reach our goal of net zero by 2050, carbon emissions in the atmosphere need to end up at about one metric ton per person ( or approximately 440 bricks).

Cutting emissions from 6,300 to 440 bricks per person will require individuals to 

1. Eliminate luxuries like airplane travel, plastics, air conditioning, and eating meat.

2. Elect officials to enact sweeping national change, shifting our energy sources from carbon-polluting fossil fuels to renewables like solar and wind.

3. Pressure large businesses to do business in a climate-friendly way.

4. Invest in carbon removal technologies and reforestation to balance the carbon still emitted.

Citizens of China emit only one-third as much carbon as Americans, but China leads the world in emissions since China's population is so large. In smaller countries like Mozambique, each citizen already averages less than one metric ton of carbon per year.

Technology that removes carbon from the atmosphere has yet to be perfected, so it's impossible to predict precisely how much carbon emissions each individual will actually have to cut to reach net-zero emissions.