Per Capita CO₂ Emissions

• This interactive website provides an animated global map, table, and chart of the per capita carbon dioxide emissions from various countries over time.
• The table lists all countries and can be sorted by name, emissions, or change in emissions.
• This resource provides recent and historical data and lets students see how per capita emissions have changed over time. 
• Students might be surprised to see which countries have higher per capita emissions than the United States.

Positives

• This resource allows students to use their critical thinking skills to think about the effects of a country's population size, personal choices, and industrial activities on their carbon emissions.
  

Additional Prerequisites

• Students should have basic geography knowledge and a basic understanding of the term carbon emissions.
  

Differentiation

• Cross-curricular connections can be made to investigate how a country's level of industrialization, climate, and natural resources contributes to their per capita carbon emissions.
  

The resource contains accurate datasets and there is no outlier identified. It is suitable to improve students' knowledge on the relative and actual change of per capita CO₂ emissions globally. This is recommended for teaching.

• College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Standards
  • Dimension 1: Developing Questions and Planning Inquiries
    • D1.5.6-8 Determine the kinds of sources that will be helpful in answering compelling and supporting questions, taking into consideration multiple points of views represented in the sources.
  • Dimension 2: Geography
    • D2.Geo.2.6-8 Use maps, satellite images, photographs, and other representations to explain relationships between the locations of places and regions, and changes in their environmental characteristics.
    • D2.Geo.10.6-8 Analyze the ways in which cultural and environmental characteristics vary among various regions of the world.