The Vulcan Project, an US wide data mapping of CO2 emissions, appears at first to correlate emissions with population density. However, closer inspection reveals surprises, such as carbon dioxide clustered in semirural areas of the Southeastern United States, where manufacturing has shifted from the Northeast and Midwest.

“We’ve pushed power plants to where people don’t live, so emissions have gotten spread out. Interstates run out in the middle of nowhere,” Gurney said.

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