Burgess COMMENTARY

Peter Burgess

Stunning video shows how quickly streets of New York would be buried up to Empire State Building by just one day's carbon emmissions When we think about how our carbon emissions contribute to pollution and global warming, it can be very difficult to imagine exactly how much harmful gas we are producing. So one activist group has made it its mission to convert environmental statistics into stunning visualisations which bring home to people how quickly emissions add up. And this stunning video paints a vivid picture of how New York City pumps carbon dioxide into the atmosphere at a staggering pace. It begins: This video showing carbon dioxide flooding the streets of New York opens with a single blue sphere representing a metric ton of carbon dioxide emissions '../DBimages/carbon/NY-carbon-emissions-visual-01.jpg' '../DBimages/carbon/NY-carbon-emissions-visual-02.jpg' '../DBimages/carbon/NY-carbon-emissions-visual-03.jpg' '../DBimages/carbon/NY-carbon-emissions-visual-04.jpg' '../DBimages/carbon/NY-carbon-emissions-visual-05.jpg' '../DBimages/carbon/NY-carbon-emissions-visual-06.jpg' '../DBimages/carbon/NY-carbon-emissions-visual-07.jpg'

It begins: This video showing carbon dioxide flooding the streets of New York opens with a single blue sphere representing a metric ton of carbon dioxide emissions Filling up: The footage shows the balls bubbling up at a rate of one per 0.58 seconds +7 Filling up: The footage shows the balls bubbling up at a rate of one per 0.58 seconds Carbon Visuals produced the animation as part of its ongoing efforts to educate the public about the pollutants which are produced as a by-product of modern manufacturing, motoring and electricity. It opens on an average Manhattan street - filled with the blaring noise of taxis honking their horns. Suddenly, the city starts to fill up with giant blue spheres, each representing one metric ton of carbon dioxide filling a sphere 33ft in diameter, coming at a rate of one per 0.58 seconds. After an hour, the video shows that if all the CO2 were pouring from a single source it would already be higher than most of New York's skyscrapers. One hour: After just an hour 6,204 tons have been emitted, making a pile as high as a tall building +7 One hour: After just an hour 6,204 tons have been emitted, making a pile as high as a tall building One day: 24 hours later, the pile grows so high that it is big enough to cover the Empire State Building +7 One day: 24 hours later, the pile grows so high that it is big enough to cover the Empire State Building A full day of emissions would produce nearly 150,000 tons - enough to cover the Empire State Building when piled in a heap. And after a year, the video pulls back to show the epic scene of Manhattan subsumed under a giant mountain of carbon dioxide, dwarfing the city and dominating its surroundings. In total, New York City produces nearly 55million tons of carbon dioxide in a year. One year: The CO2 produced in New York in a year would be enough to form a mountain over the city +7 One year: The CO2 produced in New York in a year would be enough to form a mountain over the city Colossal: The hypothetical size of the gas would almost completely cover Manhattan +7 Colossal: The hypothetical size of the gas would almost completely cover Manhattan Pollution: New York churns out close to 55million tons of carbon dioxide every year +7 Pollution: New York churns out close to 55million tons of carbon dioxide every year Ironically, the city is one of the greenest communities in the U.S., producing around 30 per cent less polluting gas per head of population than the American average. But Carbon Visuals - which made the video with support from the Carbon Defense Fund - says it hopes to 'support the great work NYC is doing to reduce its already small (by U.S. standards) footprint'. Watch the video here http://www.carbonvisuals.com/work/new-yorks-carbon-emissions-in-real-time Open PDF ... NYCPlan-Greenhouse-Gas-2011 Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2241716/How-streets-New-York-carbon-dioxide.html#ixzz2vZNdYdcN Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook