Quote:
Originally Posted by JSH
China has double the population of the USA and EU combined. Of course their emissions are higher. Their emissions per capita are half that of the US and below the EU as well.
Emissions per capita:
16 - USA
7.3 - Europe
7.1 - China
http://www.globalcarbonatlas.org/en/CO2-emissions
With that in mind they very rightly point out that we have no reason to judge their emission levels especially when CO2 accumulation in the atmosphere is cumulative and the VAST majority of CO2 and other greenhouse gases emitted over the last century came from the US and Europe. |
The emissions per capita argument is weak. It's like someone claiming a moral high ground because their 3 equally driven cars each get 50 MPG meanwhile my 1 car only gets 25. It completely ignores the other half of the CO2 equation.
Meanwhile, as the tree is metaphorically threatening to fall on all of us, they want to argue that although they are currently pushing the tree the hardest, others were pushing in the past.
Either the tree is threatening to crush us all, or it's not. If it is, it doesn't matter who used to be pushing on it, only who currently is.