3 ms·

A couple thoughts - what is equally? The US is the historically the largest contributor of greenhouse gases by a wide margin[1]. And last I checked, a vast ma

A couple thoughts - what is equally? The US is the historically the largest contributor of greenhouse gases by a wide margin[1]. And last I checked, a vast majority of people support the agreement[2], including half of trump supporters. [1] https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2011/apr/21/countries-responsible-climate-change https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2011/apr/21/countrie... [2] http://climatecommunication.yale.edu/publications/paris_agreement_by_state/ http://climatecommunication.yale.edu/publications/paris_agre...

xienze 9y ago
> The US is the historically the largest contributor of greenhouse gases by a wide margin Sure, but guess what: China is right behind us. History means squat. They're a major polluter _right now_. Why are they not held to the same standard we are?
- swampthing 9y ago
  They could ask the same question - why is the US allowed to have higher per-capita emissions?
  - rbritton 9y ago
    Why are per-capita emissions a more important number than net emissions? With the former, China is behind us (roughly half) whereas with the latter, they're roughly double based on the current Wikipedia numbers.
    - swampthing 9y ago
      I'm not saying they're more important. But as for why they are important, I think that there is some relationship between how people live and per-capita emissions. So if you ignore the population size and only look at net emissions, the people in larger countries would be held to a higher standard than the people in the smaller countries.
- vidarh 9y ago
  They're not held to the same standard because if they were, they would rightfull refuse to sign on: China's GDP was 10.87 trillion USD in 2015 vs 17.95 trillion USD for the US. GDP per capita was 7,926 in 2015 vs 55,836 in the US. China is still a poor country. When China reaches a comparable GDP per capita, then we can expect comparable cuts to be on the table. Until then expecting sharp cuts from developing countries will not be a viable alternative.
- joshualross 9y ago
  China has a a few hundred thousand metric tons before they are close to the historical pollution we have contributed. And last I checked, they are still committed to taking action[1]... if only we could say the same. Things I've learned in life(mostly the hard way) include that fair is not a thing and does not exist. [1]https://www.c2es.org/international/key-country-policies/china https://www.c2es.org/international/key-country-policies/chin...

xienze 9y ago

> The US is the historically the largest contributor of greenhouse gases by a wide margin Sure, but guess what: China is right behind us. History means squat. They're a major polluter _right now_. Why are they not held to the same standard we are?

swampthing 9y ago
They could ask the same question - why is the US allowed to have higher per-capita emissions?
- rbritton 9y ago
  Why are per-capita emissions a more important number than net emissions? With the former, China is behind us (roughly half) whereas with the latter, they're roughly double based on the current Wikipedia numbers.
  - swampthing 9y ago
    I'm not saying they're more important. But as for why they are important, I think that there is some relationship between how people live and per-capita emissions. So if you ignore the population size and only look at net emissions, the people in larger countries would be held to a higher standard than the people in the smaller countries.
vidarh 9y ago
They're not held to the same standard because if they were, they would rightfull refuse to sign on: China's GDP was 10.87 trillion USD in 2015 vs 17.95 trillion USD for the US. GDP per capita was 7,926 in 2015 vs 55,836 in the US. China is still a poor country. When China reaches a comparable GDP per capita, then we can expect comparable cuts to be on the table. Until then expecting sharp cuts from developing countries will not be a viable alternative.
joshualross 9y ago
China has a a few hundred thousand metric tons before they are close to the historical pollution we have contributed. And last I checked, they are still committed to taking action[1]... if only we could say the same. Things I've learned in life(mostly the hard way) include that fair is not a thing and does not exist. [1]https://www.c2es.org/international/key-country-policies/china https://www.c2es.org/international/key-country-policies/chin...