This is an excellent video showing the release of Carbon Dioxide in the United States. It speaks for itself, but I have a few things I’ll say after you watch [if you’ve seen it, watch again it’s still amazing, or skip for commentary]
The swings between night, morning, and day-to-evening are expected, but still fascinating to watch. It’s like a strobe, as during the night so much less activity generates so much less CO2. It does raise an important reality, though. Due to the majority of people being active during the same times of day, days of the year, we generate more CO2 than we would if we lived a bit more staggered lives.
There is also the question of how much less CO2 would be emitted through efficient use of modern public transportation. It would be interesting to see models of cities with high volume public transportation versus those without much or any.