Greenhouse gases: by the numbers.

• Position: GRAPH > ENVIRONMENT

Greenhouse gases, pegged by scientists as a chief cause of climate change, are a mix of water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and ozone.

They're produced by the burning of gasoline, heating oil, coat, and other fossil fuels. When greenhouse gases rise, they trap heat, causing Earth's temperature to rise

The graph at right and chart below show two different ways of looking at greenhouse gas emissions: total emissions and emissions per capita.

Use the data to answer the questions below.

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ANALYZE THE GRAPH

(1) About how many more billions of tons of greenhouse gases does the U.S. produce in a year than Japan?

a 4.9

b 5.2

c 5.6

d 6.1

(2) What will China's annual greenhouse gas emissions be in 2012 if its emissions grow by 15% in each of the next five years?

a 8 billion tons

b 7.3 billion tons

c 6.6 billion tons

d 6.2 billion tons

(3) Total greenhouse gas emissions for Indonesia and Turkey equal 616 million tons. What is the approximate total, for Argentina?

a 280 million tons

b 250 million tons

c 300 million tons

d 310 million tons

(4) Emissions for the Netherlands, not shown, are about 312 million tons less than the total for South Korea and Nigeria. About how many millions of tons does the Netherlands emit?

a 238

b 258

c 218

d 180

(5) Look at the table on per capita greenhouse gas emissions. Which country's emissions are slightly more than half that of the U.S.?

(6) Which country's per capita emissions are almost twice those of the U.S.?

(7) Discussion: What might account for the fact that the U.S., which has the...