Here is a link to a Gapminder chart set for the China, France, USA question.
Statistics only tell part of the story. A responsible consumer of information is always thinking about how the data might be interpreted differently. Here is additional information from Gapminder that you might find interesting. Ask yourself if you agree with the importance of this additional information and its relevance to the animated chart you just created.
China is today the country that emits most CO2 in total, but that is because it has such a large population. Each American still emits almost four times as many tonnes CO2 as each Chinese person do. In 1900 China emitted negligible amounts of CO2 per person and it increased very slowly. From the 1970s, the emissions had started to grow faster, as economic growth accelerated.
The US and France were both industrialized by 1900. Various energy sources were more readily available in the US than in France. Hence, the energy system was more energy intensive from an early date in the US.
Income per person grew strongly during the 20th century in both countries, and the CO2 emissions followed this pattern. Numerous crises affected the emission of CO2: the 1st world war (mostly in France), the depression after 1929 (with the strongest effect in the US) and the 2nd world war (mainly seen in France).
In the 1970s the oil prices increased massively at two occasions. These events are known as the 1st and 2nd oil crisis. They provoked actions to use the energy more efficient and to switch to energy sources with less emission of CO2, e.g. nuclear power. Many of these changes remained even after the oil-price dropped again in the 1980s. Furthermore, the production in the high income countries became more focused on producing things that required less energy (e.g. producing medicines, just to take one example).
Statistics only tell part of the story. A responsible consumer of information is always thinking about how the data might be interpreted differently. Here is additional information from Gapminder that you might find interesting. Ask yourself if you agree with the importance of this additional information and its relevance to the animated chart you just created.
China is today the country that emits most CO2 in total, but that is because it has such a large population. Each American still emits almost four times as many tonnes CO2 as each Chinese person do. In 1900 China emitted negligible amounts of CO2 per person and it increased very slowly. From the 1970s, the emissions had started to grow faster, as economic growth accelerated.
The US and France were both industrialized by 1900. Various energy sources were more readily available in the US than in France. Hence, the energy system was more energy intensive from an early date in the US.
Income per person grew strongly during the 20th century in both countries, and the CO2 emissions followed this pattern. Numerous crises affected the emission of CO2: the 1st world war (mostly in France), the depression after 1929 (with the strongest effect in the US) and the 2nd world war (mainly seen in France).
In the 1970s the oil prices increased massively at two occasions. These events are known as the 1st and 2nd oil crisis. They provoked actions to use the energy more efficient and to switch to energy sources with less emission of CO2, e.g. nuclear power. Many of these changes remained even after the oil-price dropped again in the 1980s. Furthermore, the production in the high income countries became more focused on producing things that required less energy (e.g. producing medicines, just to take one example).
Last modified: Thursday, June 9, 2011, 9:40 PM