4 ms·
Everyone does it is not an argument. China is a failed global citizen polluting, repressing, and stealing it's way to regional and global power. You will not en
by rrggrr 7y ago
Everyone does it is not an argument. China is a failed global citizen polluting, repressing, and stealing it's way to regional and global power. You will not enjoy living under CCP hegemonic power...
- amriksohata 7y agoMany countries across the world don't enjoy living under the USA as the biggest power either. Dozens of countries. Also regarding pollution, Google oil usage per head and the US is the worst offender
- deogeo 7y agoLooking at consumption per capita ignores the low population and birth rate (below replacement in the US since 1970). We're told having fewer children is the best thing we can do for the environment (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/jul/12/want-to-fight-climate-change-have-fewer-children https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/jul/12/want-to-...), so it's hardly fair to then assign blame with per-capita numbers.
- Leary 7y agoJust because Americans are having fewer children does not excuse them from the fact that they consume far more than other people. Americans are told constantly that global warming is false, with even President Trump claiming it is a "Chinese hoax." Furthermore, America is relatively sparsely populated not because of a moral belief that having fewer kids is better for the environment but merely because that is the stage of demographic transition it is in due to its economic development. In addition, it was very sparsely populated before the arrival of European colonizers. In addition, even if we look at the cumulative figure, America has historically been the number 1 contributor to global warming[1]. [1] https://ourworldindata.org/co2-and-other-greenhouse-gas-emissions#how-do-we-measure-or-estimate-co2-emissions https://ourworldindata.org/co2-and-other-greenhouse-gas-emis...
- amriksohata 7y agoThey still consume far more per head, so it's not a scalable solution as a model for countries to emulate. 300 million American people use more oil than 1 billion Indians per head
- deogeo 7y agoThe US absolutely should reduce it's per-capita oil use/CO2 production, that much is true. But as far as scalability, it is the most scalable solution. In 1970, US population was 205 million, and birth rate was below replacement. If there had been 0 immigration in the intermediate time, the population would have shrunk. Compared to current population, the total CO2 emitted would be less than 63% of current levels - a reduction by almost half. This could be applied to any country, and it could scale to go as low as needed.