CO2 emissions, birth &death rates by country, simulated...
Rated • 1665 reviews • environment, earth, geography • breathingearth.net
Click the image above for a very interesting simulation of the CO2 emissions of the world's countries, as well as their birth and death rates. It's a nice interface - just hover the mouse over a country to see its environmental data.
If you run the simulation, it is worth reading what David writes below the map, and following some of his links.
A country turns red on the map each time that 1,000 tonnes of CO2 is emitted by that country - in the case of the USA, that is about once every 5 seconds. Using the map I can't find any other country, apart from China, coming anywhere close to this.
Note that the simulation doesn't use live data. As of December 2008, the data comes from 2004 (the latest available for all countries in the world), or about half-way through the Bush administration. The situation is undoubtedly worse now, especially in Asia.
Also, in 2004 Americans were only the tenth-worst CO2 producers on a per-head basis - that dubious honour went to citizens of Australia, Kuwait and Luxembourg, among others - countries with relatively small populations.
As David Bleja, the simulation's designer, points out, the Earth only cares about the total amount of CO2 (and other even more climate-dangerous gases), irrespective of where it is coming from or how many people produce it. It's a global problem - we all need to work together to fix it.
If you are looking for serious data on Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions, one of the best sources is the United Nations Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Inventory Data.
There are many Americans who are concerned about GHG emissions - for example, see this excellent web site. If you are concerned too (whatever country you live in) and want to make your voice heard, please give this site a visit!
[Permalink to this post]
