This is my chart:
Based on this chart:
I thought that it would be nice to include a more historical aspect and contextualize the effect of the Industrial Revolution by pulling carbon data from the beginning of the Common Era.
What I don’t like as much about my visualization are the overlapping labels, although they do help emphasize the similarity of atmospheric carbon levels until humans start emitting many tons more of CO2.
Hi Rei,
I really liked the original Six Decades of Carbon Dioxide Concentration in the Atmosphere chart and I’m happy you chose to work with it! I agree with your instincts to contextualize some of the changes in Carbon Dioxide Concentration over time by trying to indicate historical context. Personally, when I was considering working with this chart, I thought about mapping or labelling significant historical events that we might claim had a direct influence on the rising CO2 levels–for example, the invention of the steam engine. However, I wonder about the possibility of providing too much context on a data visualization. Does much significance should we place on context in a data visualization? Or should context remain outside of the visualization, as we have done with our accompanying paragraphs?
You mentioned disliking the overlapping labels on your visualization, although I agree that this has the effect of helping the 20th century CO2 levels stand out. Perhaps the solution might be to decrease the step of the y-axis ppm levels, so that we can see more minute changes between the CO2 levels before the 20th century.