4 ms·

Eh, the issue is not thay the US is good/bad whatever but this article frames most dialog on CO2 % change. There are a few issues: C02 is only one greenhouse

Eh, the issue is not thay the US is good/bad whatever but this article frames most dialog on CO2 % change. There are a few issues: C02 is only one greenhouse gas of which others, particularly methane from cow farts, are substabtial contributors to global warming. Americans love their red meat... As absolute numbers, the US per capital contributions to global warming are crazy high. If you integrated over time, the contribution of the US to global warming on a per capita basis since the industrial revolution, it is quite clear the US is an enormous driver of climate change.

panzagl 8y ago
Addressing your points in order: 1) Which is why the US public throws its hand up on this crap- do well on one metric and suddenly another is more important. And let's add some extemporaneous moralizing in there- if it wasn't meat or cars it would be guns. 2) But not the highest. 3) A fabricated metric that conveniently excuses the actions of past pollution/emission champions (Europe) and the current champion (China) so the self-loathing can continue.
- dmritard96 8y ago
  1) Don't agree. The obviously important metric is quite clear. Contribution to global warming over some time period. Just looking at CO2 and ignoring all the other factors is fine if the science justifies ignoring those other sources and the cost per unit of GHG reduction is lowest for CO2. This isn't jumping from one metric to another, its effectively common sense. Not sure why if it wasn't meat or cars it would be guns. Certainly healthy public debate about guns is needed since the US has way too many per capita as I understand it, but this is totally irrelevant. 2 and 3 - do you have some math or citations? I think China will quickly begin gaining ground but pretty sure the US has likely outpaced Europe. Also worth noting that it should review both per country but also per country per capita.
  - dmritard96 8y ago
    Found some info on the 'fabricated metric'. Btw, worth pointing out that fabricating metrics is faking data, not coming up with a metric...all metrics by your definition are fabricated. http://berc.berkeley.edu/ranking-global-warming-contributions-by-country/ http://berc.berkeley.edu/ranking-global-warming-contribution... Here is a link to the most relevant part: http://cdn1.spiegel.de/images/image-590398-galleryV9-dikr.jpg http://cdn1.spiegel.de/images/image-590398-galleryV9-dikr.jp...
- ben_w 8y ago
  As a citizen of somewhere other than the USA, we basically look at your guns and go “WTF”, but it’s your problem not ours so we don’t really care that much.

panzagl 8y ago

Addressing your points in order: 1) Which is why the US public throws its hand up on this crap- do well on one metric and suddenly another is more important. And let's add some extemporaneous moralizing in there- if it wasn't meat or cars it would be guns. 2) But not the highest. 3) A fabricated metric that conveniently excuses the actions of past pollution/emission champions (Europe) and the current champion (China) so the self-loathing can continue.

dmritard96 8y ago
1) Don't agree. The obviously important metric is quite clear. Contribution to global warming over some time period. Just looking at CO2 and ignoring all the other factors is fine if the science justifies ignoring those other sources and the cost per unit of GHG reduction is lowest for CO2. This isn't jumping from one metric to another, its effectively common sense. Not sure why if it wasn't meat or cars it would be guns. Certainly healthy public debate about guns is needed since the US has way too many per capita as I understand it, but this is totally irrelevant. 2 and 3 - do you have some math or citations? I think China will quickly begin gaining ground but pretty sure the US has likely outpaced Europe. Also worth noting that it should review both per country but also per country per capita.
- dmritard96 8y ago
  Found some info on the 'fabricated metric'. Btw, worth pointing out that fabricating metrics is faking data, not coming up with a metric...all metrics by your definition are fabricated. http://berc.berkeley.edu/ranking-global-warming-contributions-by-country/ http://berc.berkeley.edu/ranking-global-warming-contribution... Here is a link to the most relevant part: http://cdn1.spiegel.de/images/image-590398-galleryV9-dikr.jpg http://cdn1.spiegel.de/images/image-590398-galleryV9-dikr.jp...
ben_w 8y ago
As a citizen of somewhere other than the USA, we basically look at your guns and go “WTF”, but it’s your problem not ours so we don’t really care that much.