I’m happy to say that I have not yet finished annoying readers of this blog with my climate change maps. Because now they look professional thanks to awesome designer Laurie Kellogg.
Each map shows places with equivalent greenhouse gas emissions.
Behold, a glimpse of a straightforward state-to-country version:
Here are bigger and better versions.
And behold again, a peek at a more conceptual map showing groups states compared to large countries (and continent) emitters:
Bigger and better versions here.
jcolman
Digg this story @ http://digg.com/environment/United_States_of_Climate_Change_mapsYou can also discuss and vote for this story on Netscape @ http://donoevil.netscape.com/story/2007/08/09/the-united-states-of-climate-change/or on Newsvine @ http://jonathon.newsvine.com/_news/2007/08/09/886573-the-united-states-of-climate-change
barry
Eric, these maps are absolutely great. I’ve sent them to many friends who are amazed at comparisons.One suggestion for follow-up mapping. The same thing but with historical total GHG emissions. The reason i say this is that many people are now focused on China as bigger ghg emitter than USA. However as James Hansen points out, if you look at total GHG in the atmosphere already…i.e. the total contribution to climate change…then USA is still far and away the biggest culprit…and will be for decades. It is like national deficit vs national debt. In such a map, my guess, it that you could fit many more countries into the map…even china. It would also be better indicator of the real responsibility for it all.With the debate seeming to turn to “it’s now more china’s fault than ours” in popular press, some simple perspective on responsibility would be great.You might be able to get sources from his recent papers at http://www.columbia.edu/~jeh1/ . i know i’ve seen charts on this for at least the top tier nations.Either way, thanks for the “annual deficit” versions. They are fab!
Eric de Place
It’s a great idea, Barry. Arie suggested it earlier too.Perhaps I’ll give it a shot when I have some time to get my hands dirty with some more complicated spreadsheets.
norberto
Eric, these are great maps ! thank you ! Can you make the same comparison for Canada ? Almost positive that the situation is more alarming here, mainly because our population is way lower, yet, our GHG emissions are very high !great work !