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.

 

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.

 

CO2Now Widgets

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)

 

Toaster Widget

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.

 

 

.Earth Widgets

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.