Hello, my name is Maryem Shalaby. I am a student in English 101 studying climate change through writing. We are currently using the book "The Climate Casino" by William Nordhaus, a Professor of Economics at Yale University. In this blog, I will be comparing two of the many graphs illustrated in the text to explain the importance of the information it withholds.


The first graph, Figure 2 is located on page 21. It illustrates the increase in Carbon Dioxide emissions on a global level from the years 1900-2010. The x-axis (bottom, horizontal axis of the graph), displays the years, while the y-axis (left, vertical axis of the graph), displays the amount of emissions in billions of tons of CO2. Some of the periods were slower than others, however, generally speaking the growth has been an upward trend, increasing by about 2.6% each year. Starting in 1900, the amount of CO2 emissions was roughly 2 billion tons and increasing each year till the end of the graph which illustrates the emissions reaching up to roughly about 35 billion tons of CO2 emissions per year.


This graph is important because it shows us how much the emissions of carbon dioxide are increasing rapidly over the years and that this IS a serious issue. It is also important because it shows the reader that the emissions are measured in BILLIONS of tons rather than thousands or millions. This is an extremely large amount. One might ask, "Why are the CO2 emissions growing so rapidly and so much...?" The reason for this growth is simple...the economy is growing.


This graph is supports the idea that William Nordhaus suggests about how we would be shocked at the amount of energy we use, which causes all this carbon dioxide to be produced in the environment. We use so much fossil fuels that create the negative affect of the CO2 in the air. "We use it to drive, to fly, to heat our houses and schools, to run our computers, and for everything we do", states Nordhaus. Its an expensive necessity and its costing us a great change in our environment and climate.