MyWHaT

If you haven’t played with Hans Rosling’s Gapminder World, do so when you have plenty of free-time. Rosling has a particular skill of using facts to show the world issues in a new & fascinating light.

This graph compares the impact of the pump price of gas to CO2 emissions per person in giving countries. With a few exceptions, the results are clear: The cheaper gasoline is at the pump, the higher per capita rates of CO2 emissions.

The interactive graph allows for visualizing the facts over time. For the United States, as gas prices rose from 2000-2006, there is a noticeable decline of CO2. In Saudi Arabia on the other hand, as prices dropped during that period, their emissions per person rose in conjunction.

These countries were quickly chosen in hopes of finding a good spread. Certainly, other factors are involved.  For a country like the United States, that enjoys globally inexpensive prices, raising the true cost of a gallon of gas could go along way in reducing energy needs and emissions.

Despite common belief, the U.S. hasn’t had a federal gas-tax increase since 1993. Why isn’t this on the table?

If gas prices reflected more of the true cost, perhaps more people would follow the lead Mr. Lively.

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If you have time, take a look at this Gapminder visualization and let us know what you discover.

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