Slashdot Mirror
Many Nations Pin Climate Hopes On China, India As Hopes For Trump Fade (reuters.com)
Twelve readers share a Reuters report: Many countries are pinning their hopes on China and India to lead efforts to slow climate change amid a growing sense of resignation that U.S. President Donald Trump will either withdraw from a global pact or stay and play a minimal role. Delegates at the May 8-18 negotiations in Bonn on a detailed "rule book" for the 2015 Paris Agreement, the first U.N. talks since Trump took office, say there is less foreboding than when Washington last broke with global climate efforts in 2001. Trump doubts global warming has a human cause and says he will decide on a campaign threat to "cancel" the Paris Agreement, the first to bind all nations to set goals to curb emissions, after a group of Seven summit in Italy on May 26-27. "The time when one big player could affect the whole game is past," said Ronald Jumeau, climate ambassador for the Seychelles. "There would be a void without the U.S., but China and India seem to be increasing their effort." Big emitters led by China, the European Union and India have reaffirmed their commitment to Paris, which seeks to phase out greenhouse gas emissions this century by shifting to clean energies. By contrast, Trump wants to favor U.S. coal.
Leading from behind.
You know you have screwed things up when you have to look at China and India, two countries that have long been considered backwards when it comes to using renewable sources of energy, for a brighter tomorrow. Kudos to China and India to realize the problem and starting to get their act together. I mean, c'mon, look at India and the problems it has and it is still doing something about it. So much about us being the superior.
I'm glad to see it. Trump is a regressive relic of an era of disinformation and anti-science, anti-problem-solving "I can do no wrong" ethos. That has to die.
We live in a connected world. Protectionism is no protection in the long or short term. We have to address these issues as a global community, and that means making the economics of any solution apply universally as much as possible. Or it won't work.
The US can pay carbon taxes all day long but unless China and India get a serious investment in non-burning energy sources, it's a wasted effort.
So, India, China, other nations.... LEAD ON. Innovate, invest, and show the world that greedy old-coal financial interests aren't more important than the planet itself.
The amount of pollution is negligible compared to China. Have you been to China? They are in no way trying to fix this. The air is thick and metallic tasting. The only time they fix it is when they shut the factories down for the celebration of one of their communist holidays.
Zoid.com
"China and India to lead efforts to slow climate change "
We've sure seen the results of China's forward looking environmental policies. Especially in scenic untouched places like Baotou, and in the pristine air of Beijing.
So, good luck with that.
Climate change caused by man is accepted by 90% of scientists. The fact that a few claim otherwise is unimportant. Look at the morons who perjured themselves before congress claiming "cigarette smoking does not cause cancer". You can watch them on YouTube, and it happened in the '90's.
There's till flat Earthers too, but thinking creatures dismiss them; just like we dismiss you. Sorry.
You forgot all the rubbish that was manufactured there in the first place, then wasted fuel to be sent to us, used for less than a year and then wasted fuel to send it back over there for "disposal" (i.e. trash heap, no recycling).
#DeleteFacebook
Didn't we obtain, after only ten years, the largest hybrid electric car fleet in the world (okay, second to japan according to wikipedia) without any government interference? Isn't solar panel technology taking off in this country, especially as people have them installed on their roofs. Aren't the local state governments still offering subsidies so as to encourage the adoption of solar panel roofs? Aren't there hundreds more americans trying to 'do their part' by recycling more, eating local foods (which can reduce CO2 emissions since the produce doesn't have to be transported thousands of miles) and don't I see more wind farms popping up every single year?
Who ever said we can only fix environmental problems by electing the 'right' president? We don't need the federal government to make a difference, we can (and I would argue are) collectively working to solve this problem through the free market mechanisms available to us!
Now excuse me while i get in my honda with ridiculously good gas mileage, and drive to the local farmers market to buy organic local produce, while i drink my Soylent meal that took 90% less CO2 to produce than any conventional meal, and then go home to my apartment that is cooled by a sun roof and electricity supplied by wind power
Yeah, keep holding your breath, skippy. We've seen this kind of banter about every administration for my lifetime and it never really goes anywhere. The difference is that your soapbox is a little bigger but that doesn't make what you say any truer.
It's about time we focused on emissions from "developing countries."
The correct answer is "focus on both". You can't solve global problems by saying "let the other guy solve all the problems, we won't do anything." And you also can't solve global problems by saying "we'll work on our problems, but we'll ignore everybody else's contributions."
That's the thing about "global": it's everybody's problem.
The stuff the US emits is harmless plant food compared to the toxic shit these derelicts dump into the air and water on a day to day basis.
Well, per capita, the US emits far far more than the rest of the world. But the U.S. is a small fraction of the world.
It's already out of hand when one country's government believes the only way to solve its problems is to depend on another country's government; it's totally bonkers to think China and India will be environmental leaders, have you ever been to either China? There wasn't a single place that we went where the locals drank tap water and the air is terrible, except in rain forest areas (the people and food were great, I'd go back to visit). The Paris accord has no teeth anyway so why should a country hamstring themselves- maybe, just maybe, each country can follow environmental policies that balance their own climate concerns and economic well being instead of blindly following activist theology.
Why SHOULD the US shoulder the responsibility, when we aren't even the worst polluter?
America burns about 3 tonnes of coal per capita each year (900 million tonnes last year for 320 million people). China burns a little over two tonnes of coal per capita each year (2.9 billion tonnes last year for 1.4 billion people). India burns about the same amount of coal as America does to supply 1.3 billion people, about half a tonne per capita.
America IS the worst polluter of the three, and that doesn't even begin to take the oil and gas the US also burns into consideration. Americans use over twice as much energy per capita as the rest of the world and much of that energy is derived from fossil fuel.
I think it's called "The Tragedy of the Commons" but either way it's the same reason traffic jams happen. If everybody did the right thing then we'd all be better off, but for individuals doing the wrong things is beneficial. At least, until everyone follows suit. When you tailgate and drive aggressively it gets you to work sooner right up until everyone does it. Then it causes a jam and you're an hour late.
The US needs to lead here because we're why China is polluting. They're doing it to meet our demand for cheap consumer goods that can be sold at a high profit margin. Not that Europe isn't to blame too, but any time we want we could put our foot down, pay a few hundred dollars more for our electronics & consumer goods and stop the pollution. We don't because we don't want to.
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
the government heavily interfered in the form of massive tax breaks for hybrids and for developing hybrids. Like most things that truly matter and are really difficult (like space travel, communication, and Basic Research) nothing happens until the government steps in because it's not profitable enough otherwise.
And you can't fix the environment with a president who is openly hostile to the EPA. Poor people still can't drink the water in Flint, MI you know? And your Honda's good millage & clean emissions is dwarfed by the number of Trucks calling themselves SUVs on the road.
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/