Carbon is one of the most important elements on earth. This video describes the carbon cycle and why it is important. It was produced for the Interactive Model of Leaf Decomposition (IMOLD) by the University of Toledo's Center for Creative Instruction.

Animated diagram of the Earth's Carbon Cycle and how it has changed over time. Carbon, in various forms including CO2 and organic materials, is continually exchanged between the atmosphere, oceans, and biosphere. In the pre-industrial period, these exchanges found a natural equilibrium such that the amount of carbon in each group remained more or less constant. However, human activities have perturbed the carbon cycle. The large amount of carbon added to the atmosphere by the burning of fossil fuels has dispersed itself through the atmosphere, oceans, and biosphere.