I hate to tell you this but if anthropogenic GW is real and real dangerous, the majority of the world that is moving up the energy use food chain is going to be the determining factor.
We wont influence hungry people from SUV's or Prius's, nor with wind mills or solar power.
Half right, wrong view imo. Leadership is required.
China clearly overtakes U.S. as leading emitter of climate-warming gases
By Elisabeth Rosenthal
Published: June 13, 2008
Clipped bits:
Worse, China's emissions are likely to continue growing substantially for years to come because they are tied to the country's strong economic growth and its particular mix of industry and power sources, the researchers said
That being said, the United States has clearly maintained its lead in carbon dioxide emissions per person. The average American is responsible for 19.4 tons, followed by Russia at 11.8 tons, Western Europe at 8.6 tons, China at 5.1 tons and India at 1.8 tons.
Experts said the new data underscored the importance of getting China to sign on to any new global climate agreement. Neither China nor the United States participated in the current treaty to limit emissions, the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012. It will be replaced by a new agreement to be signed in Copenhagen at the end of 2009.
Orville Schell, director of the Center on U.S.-China Relations at the nonprofit Asia Society in New York said, "This Dutch study, which was the first one to put China ahead of the U.S. in the carbon emissions sweepstakes, is something of a harbinger of things to come, namely, of China's uncontested pre-eminence in this world of rapidly growing greenhouse gas emissions."
The center has recently started a bilateral climate change initiative that includes such private groups as the Pew Center on Global Climate Change, as well as politicians in both countries, including Al Gore, the Nobel laureate and former U.S. vice president.
"There cannot be a solution to the global climate change questions without China being integrally involved," Schell said. But he added that Chinese leaders would not become more engaged on climate change unless the United States also made new commitments.
"This will be one of the new challenges of the new U.S. president," he said.
iht.com |
