Why the Census Matters

The US Census Bureau has a great chart of population growth which shows where people have chosen to settle in the US from 1790 to 2010. It is a great way to visualise the data, but it also indicates why the US is going to face significant problems with global warming. With so many people living on the coastline, sea level rise and increased storm surges--as we saw with Sandy in New York--is going to affect a huge population.Census data, collected as consistently as possible over a long period of time, was necessary to both create the chart and to understand where the effects will be felt.