[QuantumDelta]

Raw data;

[Black Wolf]

Even pure raw data can be manipulated by the way it's displayed. The 2010 natural disaster deaths is bumped up by the Haiti quake, whereas there were no major, high casualty events in 2000. Do the same graph for 2004 vs 2010 and the trend would be downwards, because of the tsunami. Counting endangered species is also a bit disingenuous unless you specifically filter those which have become endangered due to habitat destruction or hunting or whatever vs. those who are placed on the list after they're determined to be unique species by, for example, genetic differentiation (a technique that has become massively more common int he last ten years) - the situation for the 2-species group might not have changed at all.

I'm not saying there aren;t problems, or that nothing's gotten worse. Just don't always trust even supposedly "raw" data.

[Spicious]

I can argue that kw/h is not a correct unit for energy consumption (nor is it correct for power). It should be kWh.

Using different units for electricity consumption for the US and China is quite useless too.

[ssmit132]

Even pure raw data can be manipulated by the way it's displayed. The 2010 natural disaster deaths is bumped up by the Haiti quake, whereas there were no major, high casualty events in 2000. Do the same graph for 2004 vs 2010 and the trend would be downwards, because of the tsunami.

That one in particular bothered me.

[QuantumDelta]

You're the one giving it an agenda, they're a comparison of two years (with one exception which is a comparison of that decade vs several prior).

As for the endangered species; none of your points actually matter? x_X
On the whole, none of your points actually matter.
To be honest I would've liked Steph to have made her list a bit longer, but there's no agenda behind it, it's just a graphical comparison between the turn of the decade years, mostly on things that people will 'have remembered' (from this year).

Choice of measurements wise, it's mostly just the way the data was presented, no 'bar' is meant to be compared to a different one anyway.


Edit;
Btw, the haiti earthquake was more deadly than the indian ocean tsunami.

[Grizzly]

Same goes for worldwide temperature. 30 years is a snapshot compared to... say...

[QuantumDelta]

Well the title was right

[Grizzly]

But we can argue with it. Otherwise there would be no replies.

[redsniper]

US energy consumption went down?

[Black Wolf]

You're the one giving it an agenda, they're a comparison of two years (with one exception which is a comparison of that decade vs several prior).

As for the endangered species; none of your points actually matter? x_X

My points do matter - you've said yourself it's a straight up comparison, but it's not a fair comparison unless some effort is made to distinguish real change in something (in this case, the number of endangered species worldwide) and perceived change (the number of species that are known to science and are therefore recorded as endangered).

For all I know, it might not be significant, but I strongly suspect that if you looked into it, you'd find the number of species that went from non endangered to endangered is smaller than the change in the number of endangered species as a whole.

[watsisname]

US energy consumption went down?

That surprised/confused me too.

[NGTM-1R]

Data is never raw. There's always collection and presentation methodology for Mr. Happy Fun Bias/Error to get in.

[Mikes]

US energy consumption went down?

That surprised/confused me too.

Possible side effect of the economic crisis? /shrugs. Can only speculate.

[Bobboau]

wow, nice piece of bias, even if it is right, it has been so heavily manipulated I can't trust anything in it, I mean, what is the point of presenting a statistic on the same data type using units that are as different as possible

[Flipside]

Got to also remember these are 'official' figures, like the UK's enumployment figures, these often have little to no relationship to actual values.

[Lukeskywalkie]

Man....2010 sucked!

[Stealth]

US energy consumption went down?

That surprised/confused me too.

Possible side effect of the economic crisis? /shrugs. Can only speculate.

Energy consumption i can believe - all houses built over the last decade have 10x the energy efficiency as their predecessors - from lightbulbs to insulation, they're consuming a fraction of the previous generation.  i can only assume power plants are more efficient too?  and there are wind farms and other alternative power solutions that weren't in place 10 years ago.

my $0.02

[Mars]

Yeah, energy efficiency is being concentrated on in the US, even if it's not as much as we would like sometimes.


QD: You're right that you can't argue with pure facts, but the fact is, the data you're presenting is laid out to make a point. A point that is lacking all the data it needs to be a legitimate argument.

[Bobboau]

i can only assume power plants are more efficient too?  and there are wind farms and other alternative power solutions that weren't in place 10 years ago.

no, all the plants are the same old plants, and in any event it's not fuel usage that is being measured it's usage of energy, this statistic cares nothing for where this energy came from, it could all be 100% wind and solar and this would not effect this number in the least, because it is consumption.