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The article and comments here use the editorial "we" as if the biggest emissions offender China (double the USA in 2021 [1]), is going to bow to global peer pre

The article and comments here use the editorial "we" as if the biggest emissions offender China (double the USA in 2021 [1]), is going to bow to global peer pressure and start sacrificing industries and fortunes in order to cut their emissions by half or more. We know that won't happen unless "we" collectively stop relying upon China for our toys and necessities, which might happen through a grassroots movement if a few 100 million global citizens suddenly become luddites and/or agrarians. Call me gloomy, but I think the only event that will dramatically slow human-accelerated climate change in the next 10 years will be a global economic collapse. [1] = https://www.statista.com/statistics/270499/co2-emissions-in-selected-countries/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/270499/co2-emissions-in-...

tzs 3y ago
> The article and comments here use the editorial "we" as if the biggest emissions offender China (double the USA in 2021 [1]), is going to bow to global peer pressure and start sacrificing industries and fortunes in order to cut their emissions by half or more. China has 4 times the population of the US. They are only a bigger offender than the US if you believe that people who live in the US have some sort of natural or divine right to live a more emitting lifestyle that do people in China. The atmosphere does not care about arbitrary political boundaries which makes per capita a better measure. By per capita emissions China is around the same as a typical European country, and half the US. If we wanted to hold emissions to current levels, people in China are 56% above their fair share. People in the US are 220% above their fair share. (People in India are at only 40% of their fair share). More important, China is building a ton of solar farms, wind farms, and nuclear plants, and a lot of pumped hydro storage (which when combined with solar or wind reduce or eliminate the need for fossil fuels to deal with the intermittent nature of wind and solar). Compare to the US where every time the Presidency or control of Congress changes parties there is a 50/50 change that the new party in power will try to roll back any clean energy initiatives of the previous party and boost reliance on fossil fuels. That means when China says they are going to be net zero by 2060 they have actually got a decent chance of achieving that, and if they don't it is more likely to be a "missed it by a few years" thing rather than a "abandoned it" thing. The US currently has a 2050 goal for net zero but with the current political situation here it is likely to be 2030 at the earliest that we actually seriously start on the things we need to do to prepare for that.

tzs 3y ago

> The article and comments here use the editorial "we" as if the biggest emissions offender China (double the USA in 2021 [1]), is going to bow to global peer pressure and start sacrificing industries and fortunes in order to cut their emissions by half or more. China has 4 times the population of the US. They are only a bigger offender than the US if you believe that people who live in the US have some sort of natural or divine right to live a more emitting lifestyle that do people in China. The atmosphere does not care about arbitrary political boundaries which makes per capita a better measure. By per capita emissions China is around the same as a typical European country, and half the US. If we wanted to hold emissions to current levels, people in China are 56% above their fair share. People in the US are 220% above their fair share. (People in India are at only 40% of their fair share). More important, China is building a ton of solar farms, wind farms, and nuclear plants, and a lot of pumped hydro storage (which when combined with solar or wind reduce or eliminate the need for fossil fuels to deal with the intermittent nature of wind and solar). Compare to the US where every time the Presidency or control of Congress changes parties there is a 50/50 change that the new party in power will try to roll back any clean energy initiatives of the previous party and boost reliance on fossil fuels. That means when China says they are going to be net zero by 2060 they have actually got a decent chance of achieving that, and if they don't it is more likely to be a "missed it by a few years" thing rather than a "abandoned it" thing. The US currently has a 2050 goal for net zero but with the current political situation here it is likely to be 2030 at the earliest that we actually seriously start on the things we need to do to prepare for that.