How to Dramatically Alter British Columbia's Carbon Footprint

Largely thanks to its abundant forests, British Columbia is a net carbon sink, meaning it absorbs or sequesters more carbon dioxide emissions than it creates. Take away those forests, though, and the picture gets ugly.

As you can see in this interactive map from The Tyee, turning on and off the various sources and sinks of carbon dioxide can wildly change the province's carbon footprint. A B.C. without its many, many maples and pines would overturn its carbon calm by giving it a net production of more than 37 million tons of CO2 per year. Keeping those trees in play helps the province suck up about 18 million more tons of CO2 per year than it produces.