What is carbon? Why is this significant? Is it bad? Can someone please explain net zero? What is carbon neutral? Do you ever feel like you are drowning in an ocean of carbon jargon that only a few people understand who like to preach to the many? With this article, I hope to provide you, dear reader, with "everything you really need to know about carbon but were afraid to ask." So, what's all the fuss about? Carbon is an element whose atoms readily combine with other atoms to form the basis of all living organisms. It is often used as an abbreviation for carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases, as described in last month's column. It is the sixth element in the periodic table and has three physical forms – diamonds, graphite and fullerite. Without carbon, Marilyn Monroe wouldn't have sung "diamonds are a girl's best friend" in the 1953 box office hit Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. But more importantly, there would be no living things—no trees to make furniture from, no craftsmen to carve furniture, because carbon is found in all living things and is the basis of organic chemistry. We are all carbon based life forms. (Richard Naylor)