Unit 13: Looking Forward: Our Global Experiment // Visuals

Climate change costs: Not addressing the risks of climate change is likely to have a far higher cost to the economy than addressing them. View animation
Ecological footprint: As personal incomes rise in developed and developing nations, each person's footprint on the environment increases as well. View animation
Global population growth: Global population is increasing by one billion people every 12 to 15 years. View animation

Coral reef after bleaching event: These corals will die unless the algal symbionts quickly repopulate the coral. Most scientists believe that usually warm sea surface temperatures are at least partially responsible for regional bleaching events. View image

Global footprint (hectares/person): The amount of biocapacity available per person is the amount of bioproductive land and sea divided by the total human population (6.6 billion in 2007) - 1.7 ha per person. View image
Global GDP, 1-2001 A.D.: One measure of economic output is GDP, or gross domestic product - the market value of goods and services produced in a given region in a year. View image
U.S. CO₂ emissions from fossil fuel (by sector and fuel type): Electricity is extensively used in the U.S. because the industry is organized to provide reliable energy across long distances from many energy sources. Many of these energy sources produce carbon dioxide emissions. View image
World CO₂ emissions from fossil fuel use in 2000 (by sector): The emissions of the majority of electricity production, of all refining, and of 80% of industry are caused by a restricted number of intensive sources, and therefore eligible for a capture and sequestration process. View image