7 ms·

US carbon emissions peaked in 2000 and have been falling since, even without a per capita adjustment: https://www.macrotrends.net/countries/USA/united-states/ca

US carbon emissions peaked in 2000 and have been falling since, even without a per capita adjustment: https://www.macrotrends.net/countries/USA/united-states/carbon-co2-emissions https://www.macrotrends.net/countries/USA/united-states/carb... Different politics in the US might have made some difference on the margin in lowering them more, but it's not really the main issue.

la64710 3y ago
Yet all the CEOs are screaming in unison - get back to office get on with your commute and pollute the earth more. Neither the government or the politicians or the CEOS or even the common people are willing to reimagine a more sustainable way of life. They are more willing to find reasons to maintain the status quo.
- netsharc 3y ago
  No one (or very few people) wants to give up luxuries like beach holidays in Thailand, electronic gadgets, steak. And if they do and someone else still get to enjoy them (e.g. billionaires, or just the wealthier Westerners), they get resentful - I think India got quite mad about "The West" dictating that people should travel less, "How fair", they say, "Westeners have been having good food and seeing the world for decades, and now when it's affordable to the poorer nations, Western leaders say 'how about we make it more expensive (e.g. by Carbon tax) so less people do it'."
  - valval 3y ago
    I imagine people will resent you when you go about claiming that meat is a “luxury” indeed. It might just be you, not everybody else.
  - t0bia_s 3y ago
    Recent prices of meat are lower than prices of cheese for example.
bobthepanda 3y ago
I would not be so complacent. A lot of that was driven by energy efficiency improvements, yet the GOP continues to push for watering things down like the CAFE standards.
dstansby 3y ago
> but it's not really the main issue. Isn't reducing CO2 emissions as fast as possible the only issue in town when it comes to the climate crisis?
- myshpa 3y ago
  No, our real problem is "overshoot" ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overshoot_(population) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overshoot_(population) ) and the the "Great Acceleration" ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Acceleration https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Acceleration ). ‘Overshoot’ occurs when humanity consumes bio-resources faster than ecosystems can regenerate and waste production exceeds nature’s assimilative capacity. Overshoot is a meta-problem: climate change; plunging biodiversity; pollution of land, air and waters; tropical deforestation; soil/land degradation etc., etc., are all co-symptoms of overshoot. Climate change is an excess waste problem — CO2 is the greatest waste by weight of modern techno-industrial economies. We cannot solve any major symptom of overshoot in isolation. Indeed, the mainstream approach to emissions reductions will not only fail to subdue climate change but, by promoting material growth, will exacerbate overshoot (https://www.resilience.org/stories/2021-10-29/cop-26-stopping-climate-change-and-other-illusions/ https://www.resilience.org/stories/2021-10-29/cop-26-stoppin...). Almost everything we undertake follows a pattern resembling a hockey stick (https://futureearth.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/great_accel-12graph-SE.png https://futureearth.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/great_acc...), growing exponentially long after we've already surpassed safe boundaries. This has been happening for several decades now, at least since 1970. The carrying capacity of our environment has been deteriorating for decades, and recently, the rate of its decline has escalated. It is on the verge of entering free fall, if it hasn't already (nicely explained here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPb_0JZ6-Rc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPb_0JZ6-Rc ). We should have stopped using fossil fuels yesterday and started changing our diets, reforming agriculture, reforesting, restoring habitats and biodiversity, reforming financial systems, promoting degrowth and implementing UBI to address inequality, etc., etc. Many things need to be done urgently to halt the environmental crisis. Unfortunately, we are not even making significant progress on the changes we have announced. We are acting too late, our efforts are insufficient. Nobody's truly in charge. COP is a farce, the IPCC has been bought by interest groups. Politicians are not taking decisive action, economic growth remains an obsession. We are driving towards the cliff at full speed, with nobody at the brakes.
lordnacho 3y ago
Carbon released by processes in the US, or carbon released by consumption of Americans, including that released elsewhere?

la64710 3y ago

Yet all the CEOs are screaming in unison - get back to office get on with your commute and pollute the earth more. Neither the government or the politicians or the CEOS or even the common people are willing to reimagine a more sustainable way of life. They are more willing to find reasons to maintain the status quo.

netsharc 3y ago
No one (or very few people) wants to give up luxuries like beach holidays in Thailand, electronic gadgets, steak. And if they do and someone else still get to enjoy them (e.g. billionaires, or just the wealthier Westerners), they get resentful - I think India got quite mad about "The West" dictating that people should travel less, "How fair", they say, "Westeners have been having good food and seeing the world for decades, and now when it's affordable to the poorer nations, Western leaders say 'how about we make it more expensive (e.g. by Carbon tax) so less people do it'."
- valval 3y ago
  I imagine people will resent you when you go about claiming that meat is a “luxury” indeed. It might just be you, not everybody else.
- t0bia_s 3y ago
  Recent prices of meat are lower than prices of cheese for example.

bobthepanda 3y ago

I would not be so complacent. A lot of that was driven by energy efficiency improvements, yet the GOP continues to push for watering things down like the CAFE standards.

dstansby 3y ago

> but it's not really the main issue. Isn't reducing CO2 emissions as fast as possible the only issue in town when it comes to the climate crisis?

myshpa 3y ago
No, our real problem is "overshoot" ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overshoot_(population) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overshoot_(population) ) and the the "Great Acceleration" ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Acceleration https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Acceleration ). ‘Overshoot’ occurs when humanity consumes bio-resources faster than ecosystems can regenerate and waste production exceeds nature’s assimilative capacity. Overshoot is a meta-problem: climate change; plunging biodiversity; pollution of land, air and waters; tropical deforestation; soil/land degradation etc., etc., are all co-symptoms of overshoot. Climate change is an excess waste problem — CO2 is the greatest waste by weight of modern techno-industrial economies. We cannot solve any major symptom of overshoot in isolation. Indeed, the mainstream approach to emissions reductions will not only fail to subdue climate change but, by promoting material growth, will exacerbate overshoot (https://www.resilience.org/stories/2021-10-29/cop-26-stopping-climate-change-and-other-illusions/ https://www.resilience.org/stories/2021-10-29/cop-26-stoppin...). Almost everything we undertake follows a pattern resembling a hockey stick (https://futureearth.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/great_accel-12graph-SE.png https://futureearth.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/great_acc...), growing exponentially long after we've already surpassed safe boundaries. This has been happening for several decades now, at least since 1970. The carrying capacity of our environment has been deteriorating for decades, and recently, the rate of its decline has escalated. It is on the verge of entering free fall, if it hasn't already (nicely explained here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPb_0JZ6-Rc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPb_0JZ6-Rc ). We should have stopped using fossil fuels yesterday and started changing our diets, reforming agriculture, reforesting, restoring habitats and biodiversity, reforming financial systems, promoting degrowth and implementing UBI to address inequality, etc., etc. Many things need to be done urgently to halt the environmental crisis. Unfortunately, we are not even making significant progress on the changes we have announced. We are acting too late, our efforts are insufficient. Nobody's truly in charge. COP is a farce, the IPCC has been bought by interest groups. Politicians are not taking decisive action, economic growth remains an obsession. We are driving towards the cliff at full speed, with nobody at the brakes.

lordnacho 3y ago

Carbon released by processes in the US, or carbon released by consumption of Americans, including that released elsewhere?