2007: The Most Important Number

An original 'TMINO' logo by Rehan Rasool, Pakistan (January 2008)

 

Themostimportantnumber.org, a new kind of website, first went live on December 17, 2007.  Canadian Michael McGee created the site after realizing, two months earlier, that atmospheric CO₂ is so important it should have its own, standalone site.

'TMINO' started as a bare-bones, one-page, html site.  It featured a graphic (see below) that shows an atmospheric CO₂ reading of 382.35 parts per million (ppm) for November 2007 at the famous Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii.

2008: World’s First CO2 Widget

 

Why CO₂ Widgets?

CO₂ web widgets deliver.  That is, they let people to discover and actively monitor changes in atmospheric CO₂ levels without needing to visit CO₂.Earth or other CO₂-focussed sites and pages.  Practically anyone with a website or blog can add a widget for visitors to see. 

Why pay attention to atmospheric CO2?  A response is provided on the About CO2.Earth and 2007: The Most Important Number pages.

 

First Widget to Display Atmospheric CO₂

  In Spring 2008, Michael McGee created the world's first website widget that continually displays the most current readings for atmospheric CO₂.  A screenshot is shown to the left.

Jayson Brown of Salt Spring Island provided instruction for writing html widget code.  McGee produced the design.  One widget was made available from themostimportantnumber.org website. 

The first widget was installed at Fireflylabs.com.  This website belongs to Will Spaulding, a friend of McGee and mechanical engineering instructor at Camosun College.  Spaulding's students access class materials at the site.  Years later, he continues to use a CO₂ widget that McGee produced.

In early June 2008, the 'TMINO' website widget was posted on the Common Energy (University of Victoria chapter) website by Joe Melton.  At the time, Melton was a PhD candidate.  He is now a post-doc fellow and contributing author to the IPCC Fifth Assessment report.

It wasn't planned, but McGee's CO₂ widget at themostimportantnumber.org was releaseed before NASA launched its vital signs desktop widget on June 15, 2008.  It's hard to get out in front of NASA, and it's cool when that happens.

 

Recent CO₂ Widget Developments

See the tabs below.

 

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CO₂Now Widget Series

 

When CO₂Now.org launched in September 2008, it rolled out a series of CO₂ website widgets that ranged from a simple "nano" design (just 30 pixels wide) to a detailed image of the Keeling Curve (600 pixels wide).  Within a year, the number of 'CO₂ displays' with one of these widgets was at least 5 million per year.

 

Past CO₂Now Widgets to Phased Out

If you installed CO₂Now.org widget code on your website before November 11, 2015, please replace it at your earliest convenience.  New website widget code is available at Show.Earth, a sister site for CO₂.Earth.  Updating the code has these benefits:

• Your clickable widgets will point to CO₂.Earth
• The new code is responsive for enhanced behaviour with mobile devices
• You will not be affected when CO₂Now.org widgets are no longer updated (January 1, 2017, or later)

 

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CO₂ Toaster Collaboration

 

The CO₂ Toaster flash widget is a 2009 creative collaboration by Franke James (artist and author), Bill James (designer and programmer), and Mike McGee (creator of CO₂Now.org, replaced in 2015 by CO₂.Earth).  The widget is designed as an engaging and memorable tool for tracking CO₂.

 

 

2010 Science Art Exhibit

In 2010, this animated CO₂ Toaster widget was one of 38 artworks selected by Stanford-affiliated Science Art-Nature for an online "Art of Science" exhibit that celebrates examples of Science Art.  In part, the mission of Science Art-Nature is to highlight "benefits of combining the accuracy of science with the evocative power of art."

The exhibit was hosted in Ashland, Oregon (USA) in conjunction with the Pacific Region's annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

 

Data Sources

The CO₂ Toaster always shows the latest monthly data for atmospheric CO₂ by pulling NOAA or Scripps measurements at the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii.

 

Widget Code

Code for the CO₂ Toaster widget can easily be added to most websites and of most websites or blogs.  Click here to get the widget code.

 

 

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Show.Earth CO₂ Widgets

 

Web and blog owners can get CO₂.Earth web widgets from Show.Earth.  The new widget code is response so widget behaviour is more predictable on mobile devices.  The new widgets are clickable and point to CO₂.Earth for more information.

 

 

2008 to 2015: CO2Now

The Road Up Mauna Loa  |  Photo by Michael McGee, 2013

 

Active Period: 2008 - 2015

CO₂Now.org was the official web address for "Earth's CO₂ Home Page" from September 1, 2008, until November 10, 2015.  The site was launched as a replacement for themosimportantnumber.org where front-page posting of atmospheric CO₂ readings began late in 2007.  On November 11, 2015, CO₂Now.org was replaced by this site, CO₂.Earth, as a founding member of the new .earth community.

 

Site Traffic

Over the active lifetime of CO2Now.org, traffic grew from about 20,000 unique visitors per month to 50,000.

When CO₂Now.org launched in September 2008, it rolled out a series of website widgets.  Thousands  of website owners around the world, including Latoria Williams from 1FirstCashAdvance that uses 0 CO₂  online lending platform, have installed a self-updating graphic on their site that always shows the latest atmospheric CO₂ readings.  Within a year, 'CO₂ displays' with these widgets totalled at least 5 million per year.   It quickly reached and then sustained a Google Page Rank of 7/10.

The CO₂Now Facebook page launched September 24, 2012 and had 2900 likes by November 2015.  The Twitter @CO₂Now thread started earlier and had 5200 followers by November 2015. 

 

Earth's CO₂ Home Page

The images below show site creator Michael McGee with 'Earth's CO₂ Home Page' that display Mauna Loa CO₂ readings for July 2010 and July 2013.

 

7 Extra Parts Per Million in 3 Years
Michael McGee (left)  |  August 2010: Willows Beach, Victoria, Canada  |  Photo by Dong Guo
Michael McGee (right) |  August 2013: Mauna Loa Observatory, Hawaii, USA  |  Photo by John Barnes

 

 

Experiments in Redistributing Atmospheric Data

 

The usage of the CO₂Now website, social media and widgets were the most notable achievements in the 7 years that CO2Now.org was operated.  The project was largely a series of informal experiments.  Some other initiatives are listed below. 

 

CO₂ Speakers' Corner

A "CO₂ Speakers' Corner" was set up as an experiment in the use of video to prompt more discussion about atmospheric CO2.  It was dubbed "Earth's first video log about atmospheric CO₂."  Only one video was produced.  It featured graduate student Maeva Gauthier while participating in a 2009 Students on Ice scientific expedition to Antarctica.  Video proved to be a rich comunications medium but it was resource intensive.  No follow up speakers' corner video has yet to be produced.

Vimeo 2009  CO₂ Speakers' Corner | Gauthier | Antarctica

DeSmogBlog 2009   Speakers Corner makes atmospheric CO2 data accessible

 

CO₂ Bulletins in Print

In late 2009, a local newspaper in Nelson, British Columbia, Canada, started publishing weekly bulletins featuring atmospheric CO₂ readings.  The bulletins were sponsored by a real estate agent in the area, xyz.  The Nelson Daily News published the updates for nine months until it was closed by new owners after reporting the news for a century.

NDN 2010  Carbon counter keeps eye on environment (page 1) [Part 1 + Part 2]

 

CO₂ on Community TV

In 2009, Delores County Television (DCTV) in Colorado (USA), in association with Colorado State University, began reporting weekly CO₂ updates when NOAA started posting weekly readings in near-real time.  Soon after the DCTV initiative, station manager Dan Fernandez collaborated with CO₂Now's Michael McGee for the supply of graphics used during news broadcasts that are led by high-school students.  The collaboration continues.  Now, the CO₂ graphics credit NOAA for the source data and CO₂.Earth for graphics supply.

CO₂Now.org  Show atmospheric CO₂ on TV

CO₂Now.org The first CO₂ data broadcast on earth

 

Other Initiatives

CO₂Now.org and founder Michael McGee have been involved in these activities:

• Co-organized (with the University of Victoria campus sustainability office) a screening of A Sea Change and science panel discussion on ocean acidification as part of the first international day of climate action on October 24, 2009 (a global event spearheaded by 350.org)
• Contributed video footage selected by YouTube/WEF for a mashup video (see McGee at 1:21) on the environment shown to delegates at the 2009 World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland
• Collaborated with artist/author Franke James and designer/developer Bill James to produce a CO₂ Toaster widget that can be embedded on any website.  In 2010, the CO₂ Toaster widget was selected for display in an online science-art exhibit

 

Future of CO₂Now.org

CO₂Now.org has been replaced by CO₂.Earth.  The old site is still there.  But the links and signs point visitors to CO₂.Earth.  The site will likely be decommissioned mid-2017.

 

Future of CO₂Now Widgets

If you installed CO₂Now.org widget code on your website before November 11, 2015, please replace it at your earliest convenience.  New website widget code is available at Show.Earth, a sister site for CO₂.Earth.  Updating the code has these benefits:

• Your clickable widgets will point directly to CO₂.Earth
• The new code is responsive for enhanced behaviour with mobile devices
• There will be no surprises in 2017 (or later) when the old CO₂Now.org widgets are no longer updated.