Case Study TwoArtifact 4: Gapminder Analysis

Comparison 1: CO₂  Emissions Per Person VS GDP Per Capita

As you can see from the video, between 1800 and 1899 CO₂ levels  kept rising. This was probably for two reasons. First, as time passed through the 19^th century there were many technological improvements that required burning fossil fuels. The most important of these was the expansion of the rail road in the west and the rise of industry in the east, with even cars starting to appear by the very end of the 19^th century. The second factor is that people got richer, so they bought more factory made things which use a lot of CO₂  to make.

 Comparison 2: Life Expectancy VS Total Population

We can see two things in this graph. First, the total population of the United States grows five times from about 20 million to one hundred million over the course of the 19^th century. This dramatic rise in population is due to women having many babies as well as heavy immigration from Europe to America. The second thing to note is that life expectancy didn’t change for most of the 19^th century, from 1800-1880, but from 1880 to 1900 life expectancy quickly rose from 40 years old to more than 50. This rapid rise in life expectancy maybe due to better medicine and health care.