Breathing Data
November 14th, 2006
There are reams upon reams of facts and figures out there, all publicly available, with which powerful conclusions may be drawn. But in the end, it comes down to accessibility.
Breathing Earth, created by the Polish-Australian student David Bleja, is a particularly nice example of a growing field of internet-hosted, interactive data visualizations. It can be argued that good data visualizations are useful as well as naturally captivating. In this case, the added dimension of ongoing time (and the harmoniously incorporated sound bite that reminds us of this passage of time) is intriguing and certainly makes it difficult to take your eyes and ears off this one.
According to Breathing Earth, the United States releases about 185 metric tons of CO2 each second. Is that a lot? A little? The raw numbers themselves hold little meaning until you investigate for yourself, making comparisons and drawing your own conclusions.
In many ways, these interactive interfaces are just as much about data as it is about the experience of research and discovery for each user. In this case, it is wonderful that you can also very easily see how much the United States releases in comparison to other countries such as China or Liechtenstein. However, as a constructive criticism, I would like to see these large numbers put into context, such as explaining how the Amazon is disappearing at a rate of football field each second, and to know what a “normal” or targeted release of CO2 is for the varoius countries, perhaps by tapping into Kyoto Protocol data.
See also: Gapminder, Google Earth Notables
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