5 ms·

Part of the reason to be critical of the US isn't just our high overall carbon emissions, but our per-capita carbon emissions. US citizens emit far more carbon

Part of the reason to be critical of the US isn't just our high overall carbon emissions, but our per-capita carbon emissions. US citizens emit far more carbon per-person than Chinese people do. That is worth criticizing

Invictus0 5y ago
This is just standard CCP propaganda to deflect from the fact that China is the world's highest emitter of CO2. While US emissions have been trending down for the last 10 years, China's emissions have been trending up. And at the end of the day, CO2 molecules have no nationality: it's why we don't waste our breath criticizing Qatar for having the world's highest emissions for capita when it produced just 0.1% the total emissions of China.
- bllguo 5y ago
  it's so obvious that per-capita metrics are a far more practical metric to use that I am convinced those repeating this flawed argument have no real interest in tackling climate change
- tzs 5y ago
  > And at the end of the day, CO2 molecules have no nationality ...which is why per capita is a better measure than per country. Here's a comment from a while ago that shows the math [1]. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29040704 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29040704
- max47 5y ago
  > CO2 molecules have no nationality if that's the case, why do you think american citizen deserve to pollute a lot more than Chinese citizen? why would being born inside US border somehow makes it ok to pollute more than if you were born inside china By your logic, if China were to split in 150 small countries, they could pollute as much as they like because technically each of them would be low on the list of highest emitter.
oceanplexian 5y ago
I'm willing to bet that per-capita, the US produces far more economic output per KG of CO2 than most of the rest of the world. Like with any statistic, you can slice and dice it any way you want to fit an agenda.
- dane-pgp 5y ago
  Here's a chart of carbon intensity vs. GDP per capita for various countries: https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/carbon-intensity-vs-gdp https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/carbon-intensity-vs-gdp Why don't you slice and dice that based on your agenda and tell us what we should conclude?
  - jhgb 5y ago
    Uh...why not the proper comparison, which is GDP per kg CO2? While I believe that GDP is Θ(1) bound to CO2 emissions, any comparison should include those constants. Your chart is missing the connection between kWh consumed and GDP generated.
    - dane-pgp 5y ago
      > the connection between kWh consumed and GDP generated If you don't mind those numbers being normalised by population size, and CO2 emissions being used as a more relevant metric than kWh, then this chart might be helpful: https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/consumption-co2-per-capita-vs-gdppc https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/consumption-co2-per-capit...

Invictus0 5y ago

This is just standard CCP propaganda to deflect from the fact that China is the world's highest emitter of CO2. While US emissions have been trending down for the last 10 years, China's emissions have been trending up. And at the end of the day, CO2 molecules have no nationality: it's why we don't waste our breath criticizing Qatar for having the world's highest emissions for capita when it produced just 0.1% the total emissions of China.

bllguo 5y ago
it's so obvious that per-capita metrics are a far more practical metric to use that I am convinced those repeating this flawed argument have no real interest in tackling climate change
tzs 5y ago
> And at the end of the day, CO2 molecules have no nationality ...which is why per capita is a better measure than per country. Here's a comment from a while ago that shows the math [1]. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29040704 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29040704
max47 5y ago
> CO2 molecules have no nationality if that's the case, why do you think american citizen deserve to pollute a lot more than Chinese citizen? why would being born inside US border somehow makes it ok to pollute more than if you were born inside china By your logic, if China were to split in 150 small countries, they could pollute as much as they like because technically each of them would be low on the list of highest emitter.

oceanplexian 5y ago

I'm willing to bet that per-capita, the US produces far more economic output per KG of CO2 than most of the rest of the world. Like with any statistic, you can slice and dice it any way you want to fit an agenda.

dane-pgp 5y ago
Here's a chart of carbon intensity vs. GDP per capita for various countries: https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/carbon-intensity-vs-gdp https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/carbon-intensity-vs-gdp Why don't you slice and dice that based on your agenda and tell us what we should conclude?
- jhgb 5y ago
  Uh...why not the proper comparison, which is GDP per kg CO2? While I believe that GDP is Θ(1) bound to CO2 emissions, any comparison should include those constants. Your chart is missing the connection between kWh consumed and GDP generated.
  - dane-pgp 5y ago
    > the connection between kWh consumed and GDP generated If you don't mind those numbers being normalised by population size, and CO2 emissions being used as a more relevant metric than kWh, then this chart might be helpful: https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/consumption-co2-per-capita-vs-gdppc https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/consumption-co2-per-capit...