We did not alter our original questions. Instead, we took the suggestions from our last milestone and the peer reviews and implemented reasonable revisions into our visualizations. In regards to the carbon emissions visualization, we decided to facet the plot by sector and then added a line for the running average. The approach is clearer because it reduces noise and any overlapping lines. In addition, we included a label for the red line, which indicates the outbreak of the first COVID case in the United States. Previously, the line was described in the explanation but not in the plot. We also added another line indicating when the stay-at-home orders began in the United States. This adds to our general idea of comparing phases of the pandemic to the environment, rather than just looking at carbon emissions alone. Finally, we altered the month names to correspond more closely to the other visualization. We decided to make these changes to make the first visualization easier to understand as well as to make the purpose of our project clearer. In regards to the COVID-19 visualization, we found out that dual axis could be misleading. Therefore, faceted the plots instead of using dual axis, and added a line representing the outbreak of the first coronavirus case in the United States. The faceting and lines of the visualizations allow readers to make clearer interpretations easily. The Carbon Emissions visualization now shows that the Ground Transport sector did not decline until after the first stay-at-home order.
Graph 1: Carbon Emission Over Time Graph 2: Covid Mortalities and Positive Cases Over Time