Breathing Earth is a site that graphically shows how much carbon dioxide is being produced by countries around the world. It’s quite a neat little project because, as you watch it, you get to see which countries are emitting large amounts of carbon dioxide. The countries took an orangy-red every time they emit 1000 tonnes of CO2.
While that’s interesting, it does have some failings. Since some countries – espcially the US and China – are emitting carbon dioxide at a much faster rate than other countries (according to this simulation)Â due to their large population and industrial development, one might think we only need to be concerned about the big polluters. Yet it’s not fair to zero in on a few larger countries.
If action needs to be taken on CO2 emissions, smaller countries like Germany or France may well have the same per capita emissions as the US or China. Yet because of their smaller populations, they will turn orangy-red far less frequently than the US or China since they have to build up 1000 tonnes of carbon dioxide before it’s displayed in the simulation.
The simulation does excellently show that a lot of CO2 is going into the air, but it leaves a few questions unanswered which should make for some great classroom discussion.