(Click on the image to see the full interactive version on my Tableau Public.)

At first, I wasn't sure if I would attempt this month's challenge because I was nervous about creating a radial visualization. As someone who only opened Tableau for the first time in April 2019, is entirely self-taught, and hasn't thought about trigonometry since high school, I knew I had some work to do!

I began by considering what types of visualizations lend themselves well to this type of view. I tend to almost always err on the side of a simple bar chart to convey the big idea, but I decided to keep an open mind. I also wanted to tell a story about something that would be relatable and interesting. That’s when I thought about climate change. I realized that if I look at global warming over time, I could use a radial visualization to see interesting spikes and trends. I read through a bunch of tutorials and practiced creating radial charts (Kevin Flerlage’s tutorial was especially helpful https://www.kevinflerlage.com/2019/02/whos-afraid-of-big-bad-radial-bar-chart.html). I’m not naturally the most mathematically inclined, so I spent way too long playing around with the radius, but I finally made it look right! 

Past the radial viz, I wanted to provide a context of what this means for the world currently as well as in the future. I researched implications for continued warming of the world and shared outcomes that scientists think are likely if we reach a 2 degree Celsius warming. I also shared steps individuals can take to help combat climate change (however I really think governments and corporations need to make changes as well). Overall this was a fun challenge that helped me acquire lots of new skills!

Check out my viz, along with over 50 others (!) on the Storytelling with Data blog.