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The only number that matters to the environment is the total. Every single western city could drop to 0 emissions, but those 23 Chinese cities along with Mosco

The only number that matters to the environment is the total. Every single western city could drop to 0 emissions, but those 23 Chinese cities along with Moscow and Tokyo already account for the majority of urban greenhouse gas emissions.

vkou 5y ago
> The only number that matters to the environment is the total. The only number that matters to humans is the quota per capita. It's how we set policy. What is the per-capita carbon budget that you'd like to assign to the US, the EU, and to China? If those numbers are different, why? If they are the same, which region exceeds them, and by how much?
- convolvatron 5y ago
  alot of people while maybe stating support for the notion of human equality would nonetheless have problems assigning the same amount of resources to everyone. after all, that would pretty much screw your lovely market
- ceejayoz 5y ago
  I'm not sure why this is being downvoted so hard. If you don't go per-capita, there's no sensible way to measure and compare emissions. If a country splits in two (something like Yugoslavia or Sudan), has its emissions halved? If a city gobbles up its neighbor, has that city's emissions doubled?
ceejayoz 5y ago
> The only number that matters to the environment is the total. Why count only cities, then?
- danudey 5y ago
  Because that's what their analysis was about.
brummm 5y ago
It's such a bad attempt for the West to wiggle out of its own responsibility. Especially the US has a crazy high CO2 emission per capita. That's a much more damning number that should lead to action.
Scarblac 5y ago
And the reverse is equally true. What's your point? Because this is often used as an excuse to do nothing, until the other side does it first. And they say the same...
elliekelly 5y ago
> The only number that matters to the environment is the total. This is such flawed reasoning if you actually want to accomplish anything. When everyone thinks of the issue as an all-or-nothing problem everyone will act in their own interest. It’s always better for the prisoners to defect. But when one prisoner has the benefit of knowing the other prisoner’s decision then everything changes.
jerlam 5y ago
> majority of urban greenhouse gas emissions. Specifically, the majority of emissions from the 167 chosen cities, not the majority of the entire world's emissions. The conclusion is flawed - the United States does not have many large cities, or even large metropolitan areas. Comparing Bejing (21 million people), Shanghai (24 million), or Tokyo (14 million) to NYC (8 million) or Los Angeles (4 million), of course the larger cities which are entire multiples larger are going to going to account for a majority of the emissions. Bejing has a population roughly that of Florida, the third largest US state.

vkou 5y ago

> The only number that matters to the environment is the total. The only number that matters to humans is the quota per capita. It's how we set policy. What is the per-capita carbon budget that you'd like to assign to the US, the EU, and to China? If those numbers are different, why? If they are the same, which region exceeds them, and by how much?

convolvatron 5y ago
alot of people while maybe stating support for the notion of human equality would nonetheless have problems assigning the same amount of resources to everyone. after all, that would pretty much screw your lovely market
ceejayoz 5y ago
I'm not sure why this is being downvoted so hard. If you don't go per-capita, there's no sensible way to measure and compare emissions. If a country splits in two (something like Yugoslavia or Sudan), has its emissions halved? If a city gobbles up its neighbor, has that city's emissions doubled?

ceejayoz 5y ago

> The only number that matters to the environment is the total. Why count only cities, then?

danudey 5y ago
Because that's what their analysis was about.

brummm 5y ago

It's such a bad attempt for the West to wiggle out of its own responsibility. Especially the US has a crazy high CO2 emission per capita. That's a much more damning number that should lead to action.

Scarblac 5y ago

And the reverse is equally true. What's your point? Because this is often used as an excuse to do nothing, until the other side does it first. And they say the same...

elliekelly 5y ago

> The only number that matters to the environment is the total. This is such flawed reasoning if you actually want to accomplish anything. When everyone thinks of the issue as an all-or-nothing problem everyone will act in their own interest. It’s always better for the prisoners to defect. But when one prisoner has the benefit of knowing the other prisoner’s decision then everything changes.

jerlam 5y ago

> majority of urban greenhouse gas emissions. Specifically, the majority of emissions from the 167 chosen cities, not the majority of the entire world's emissions. The conclusion is flawed - the United States does not have many large cities, or even large metropolitan areas. Comparing Bejing (21 million people), Shanghai (24 million), or Tokyo (14 million) to NYC (8 million) or Los Angeles (4 million), of course the larger cities which are entire multiples larger are going to going to account for a majority of the emissions. Bejing has a population roughly that of Florida, the third largest US state.