CO2 Growth

Spreadsheets offer us a nearly unlimited ability to develop and learn from case studies using real world data. We will focus mainly on climate change which is an area rich in possibilities and of great interest to students. In this case study we look at the production of carbon dioxide per person in the United States over the past 200 years. We take this opportunity to introduce students to the difference between quantity and growth, between the amount of CO2 produced and the year-to-year growth in production. We challenge students to consider whether this growth is an increasing problem.