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What matters to the planet are the totals, I agree with your point that Americans have standards of living that needs to be improved, but I don't buy the argume
by Aldo_MX 12y ago
What matters to the planet are the totals, I agree with your point that Americans have standards of living that needs to be improved, but I don't buy the argument that measures should be per unit land or per capita, because this is not the case.
A large SUV won't dump as much CO2 as industrial manufacturing, for example.
- arjie 12y agoNaturally what matters to the planet are the totals, but not going per-capita or per-unit-area is asking a disproportionate share from different people. And you can frame the problem using different groups in different ways so it is no longer well defined. Observe: 1. Members of the OECD must cut down on CO2 emissions. They far exceed China's emissions. Totals are what matter, and the OECD certainly has a higher total than China. China can't do anything so long as the OECD keeps pumping CO2 freely into the atmosphere. 2. North America must cut down on CO2 emissions. They far exceed that of South Asia. We can think of it this way. A certain standard of living requires some degree of pollution + cost. It is not productive to ask the other guy to endure a poorer standard of living while you live large just because he, as an individual, lives in a place with more individuals. You can ask for that, but it isn't going to happen.