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I think the most interesting datapoint to have come from global covid lockdowns is just how little the world is contributing to greenhouse gases compared to chi

• gruez 6y ago
  Just wondering, before the pandemic broke, was each countries' accounting of their co2 emissions in dispute? In other words, if you summed up every country's estimate and compared it to actual global co2 levels, was there a huge mismatch? I'm hesitant to take the tweet at face value, judging by the other posts the twitter user made.
  • toolz 6y ago
    yeah the author isn't very credible but the data is sourced and the point seems to stand as far as I can tell. The sources do not seem to be contested as far as I can tell.
    • gruez 6y ago
      >but the data is sourced and the point seems to stand as far as I can tell. Doesn't that describe most pseudoscience/conspiracy posts though? They rarely make up data outright, but instead they cherrypick data that fits their theory. This is why I asked if this theory was already a thing before the pandemic. If it's really the case that China (or any other major emitter) is underreporting their emissions, you'd think that someone at a reputable institution would have raised the alarm about the inconsistency in the past two decades. The lack of this is a reason to doubt the validity of this, at least to a casual observer. With regards to actual explanations, the twitter thread provides many: * chinese new year * sanctions/tariffs * different style of lockdown by china vs the US
      • toolz 6y ago
        conspiracy theory? As I understand it this is merely measuring data and comparing it to previous measurements. Either the data is wrong or it isn't - there's no need to complicate things with conspiracy theories or anything else
    • nicoburns 6y ago
      It seems to me that the US never actually shutdown in the way that China did. So it's unsurprising that it didn't affect CO2 levels in the same way.
• mensetmanusman 6y ago
  That’s because western leaders were more than happy to let China manufacture things ‘over there’ so we could wash our hands clean of the environmental damage our consumer choices were contributing to.
  • exclusiv 6y ago
    You're overthinking this. It's more like consumers love cheap goods. Chinese policies enable the supply.
    • mensetmanusman 6y ago
      But weren’t our leaders under-thinking it then? Clearly they liked fewer complaints about environmental concerns because it wasn’t happening where the citizens could see it. In principal they were smart enough to understand the concept of outsourcing pain.
      • lotsofpulp 6y ago
        No one is going to be elected with the platform of increasing costs so the populace consumes less in order to save the planet. Certainly not 20 to 50 years ago.
      • exclusiv 6y ago
        What you mentioned is just a side-effect bonus if you want to call it that. > That’s because western leaders were more than happy to let China manufacture things ‘over there’ so we could wash our hands clean of the environmental damage Just saying that's not the driver. Not even close. Demand for cheap goods was the driver for the West and the fact that Chinese policies teed up super cheap supply via their policies is the story. So I don't think your comment isn't accurate. But it would be accurate if you said our western leaders were more than happy to keep the flow of cheap goods going because it was a favorable arrangement and it had a nice side effect of not having to deal with environmental cleanup or pushback. If the cost of goods was the same in the west, the west would surely deal with environmental issues in exchange for the jobs and tax revenue.