Slashdot Mirror
The US Is the Biggest Carbon Polluter in History (nytimes.com)
Justin Gillis, and Nadja Popovich, writing for The New York Times: The United States, with its love of big cars, big houses and blasting air-conditioners, has contributed more than any other country to the atmospheric carbon dioxide that is scorching the planet. "In cumulative terms, we certainly own this problem more than anybody else does," said David G. Victor, a longtime scholar of climate politics at the University of California, San Diego. Many argue that this obligates the United States to take ambitious action to slow global warming. Against that backdrop, factions in the Trump administration are engaged in a heated debate over whether to remain a party to the 195-nation agreement on climate change reached in Paris in 2015. President Trump promised on Wednesday to announce his decision at 3 p.m Thursday in the White House Rose Garden. A decision to walk away from the accord would be a momentous setback, in practical and political terms, for the effort to address climate change. Several news outlets, citing people in the administration, reported on Wednesday that the US is likely to pull out of the agreement.
Australia (per capita), a country that faces a similar geographic situation.
love is just extroverted narcissism
Can we quit with the hyperbole, please? Climate change research is a serious matter. I know that's all journalists know how to do, but we need everyone to get on board with at least researching this stuff.
Saying it's "Scorching the Planet" is inflammatory and highly unrelatable to 99% of the people of the Earth, having likely only seen nearly undetectable average temperature increases.
I'm from the U.S., and you probably wouldn't even have to cite me any sources for me to believe we have generated the most cumulative CO2 of any other country. That doesn't seem like it should be news to anyone..
The US is also one of the first countries to establish the Environmental Protection agency to explicitly DO something about getting emissions down. Which is why things like smog in Los Angeles is much less a problem today than it was before and we didn't need a worldwide treaty to do it. But I guess the EPA did nothing according to these guys. Nor do I suspect they've bothered to really look into China's carbon emissions or Russia's (which I'm sure China and Russia's governments are open about sharing information and that the information is actually... y'know... factual)
Without nitrates, nitrites and ammonia plants would die off, and animals would follow, yet they are definitely pollutants for animals.
Metals such as copper, iron, and magnesium are highly toxic in high concentrations to most life forms, yet are essential for most life.
Pollutants might be beneficial for life in small doses, but too much IS a pollutant even if it is needed for life.
Heck, if the earth was buried 3 feet deep in pizza. Pizza would be considered a pollutant. Being needed for life does not mean it isn't a pollutant.
"That's the way to do it" - Punch
The USA has a unique mix of:
High Population.
High Population dispersal. (Low population density means higher per capita).
Prosperous Economy.
Combination of Hot Summers and Cold Winters/ continental effect across much of the country (not much off-time for in-building climate regulation).
So yes, the US has a high per capita carbon pollution, but it's because the people living their are uncaring polluting jerks (although some clearly are), it's because of the unique situation the US is in.
"That's the way to do it" - Punch
Anything is a pollutant if there is too much of it.
The Sun's activity is actually down, while temperatures have soared.
http://www.woodfortrees.org/pl...
Heck, if the earth was buried 3 feet deep in pizza. Pizza would be considered a pollutant.
Yeah, but it would a totally *awesome* pollutant.
Taking guns away from the 99% gives the 1% 100% of the power.
If you removed all CO2 from the atmosphere, the earth would have a stable temperature of about 3-deg Kelvin. It's the greenhouse effect from those trace amounts of CO2 that has kept us cozy and warm for the last few billion years.
Did you get that nugget knowledge from another Trump supporter on the Internet?
Clue: Mars isn't at 3 degrees Kelvin, not even fucking Pluto is at 3 degrees Kelvin.
No sig today...
I hope he pulls out. It will be a GOOD THING to have denialism firmly endorsed by a man that most of the world (and much of America) views as an idiot. This will give political cover to other leaders around the world to take stronger action on climate change.
In practical terms, the agreement means almost nothing, since it requires almost no actions, and has no penalties for violations.
The solutions to global warming will come from us nerds (scientists and engineers) not politicians. We need better solar panels, better wind turbines, geothermal, carbon sequestration, etc.
Those are factors, but for example lots of European countries have fairly big temperature swings over the year but still use a lot less energy because their homes and buildings are well designed and insulated. In fact many European governments had some kind of scheme,either tax or industry funded, to get homes properly insulated at little or no cost to the owner.
Europe also has requires appliances to be much more efficient. That really helps combat the "bigger = better" mentality that consumers have, e.g. vacuum cleaners with 3000W motors that generate a lot of heat but don't clean any better.
All that and several EU countries have higher standards of living and quality of life compared to America, so it's not an either/or choice.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
The American people are the most generous in the world, with the most concern for other nations in the world. While we don't always take the "right" actions, the intent from the public is never "screw them other guys".
Strange that the rest of the world has a different picture of you.
And your history must be lacking ... /me looking to south america where the USA destroyed legitimated elected regimes and put up dictatorships
In my eyes the US did not do anything great after the Marshall Plan.
Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.