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U.S. Exits Paris Climate Accord

scientificamerican.com

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Re: U.S. Exits Paris Climate Accord

#21

Post by cher88 »

roenxi wrote: post #13
originalvichy wrote: post #3

As a European this is the main fear I have during this election. 4 more years of inaction from the government of one of the biggest polluters in the world will really bite us in the ass. Not that I’m super proud of how we are doing in my country, but it can’t get worse.

Here are some interesting graphs from arguably the most transformative economic miracle in human history [0]. The risk isn't the US doing nothing, it is India, Africa, etc, etc deciding that they seriously want a comfortable standard of living. [0] https://ourworldindata.org/co2/country/china?country=~CHN

Isn't this the more pertinent graph?

https://ourworldindata.org/co2/country/china?country=USA~IND...

Re: U.S. Exits Paris Climate Accord

#22

Post by paulgb »

tootie wrote: post #14
originalvichy wrote: post #3

As a European this is the main fear I have during this election. 4 more years of inaction from the government of one of the biggest polluters in the world will really bite us in the ass. Not that I’m super proud of how we are doing in my country, but it can’t get worse.

It was barely debated. We can't even get half the country to care about a disaster that's unfolding in their faces.

The frustrating thing about the handling of COVID is watching the climate change story play out at lightning speed. Deny the problem exists, politicize the science, eventually admit the problem but say there's nothing we can do about it, etc.

Re: U.S. Exits Paris Climate Accord

#23

Post by paganel »

roenxi wrote: post #13
originalvichy wrote: post #3

As a European this is the main fear I have during this election. 4 more years of inaction from the government of one of the biggest polluters in the world will really bite us in the ass. Not that I’m super proud of how we are doing in my country, but it can’t get worse.

Here are some interesting graphs from arguably the most transformative economic miracle in human history [0]. The risk isn't the US doing nothing, it is India, Africa, etc, etc deciding that they seriously want a comfortable standard of living. [0] https://ourworldindata.org/co2/country/china?country=~CHN

And people still say Malthus was wrong.

At least some of them have woken up to the realisation that exporting your pollution/nasty stuff to other parts of the world doesn't really solve all that much, but even so, they're still a minority, the great majority still believes in silver bullets like recycling, "clean tech" etc.

Re: U.S. Exits Paris Climate Accord

#25

Post by roenxi »

cher88 wrote: post #21
roenxi wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here are some interesting graphs from arguably the most transformative economic miracle in human history [0]. The risk isn't the US doing nothing, it is India, Africa, etc, etc deciding that they seriously want a comfortable standard of living. [0] https://ourworldindata.org/co2/country/china?country=~CHN

Isn't this the more pertinent graph? https://ourworldindata.org/co2/country/china?country=USA~IND...

Pretty sure. Nature, being unconcerned with fairness, has little regard for per capita statistics.

If we want 8 billion people living in comfort, we need more energy. As always, I think we should have been building more nuclear plants back in the 90s. And again in the 2000s. And the 2010s. Maybe now we can go wind and solar. But we need lots of something.

Re: U.S. Exits Paris Climate Accord

#26

Post by koheripbal »

cher88 wrote: post #21
roenxi wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here are some interesting graphs from arguably the most transformative economic miracle in human history [0]. The risk isn't the US doing nothing, it is India, Africa, etc, etc deciding that they seriously want a comfortable standard of living. [0] https://ourworldindata.org/co2/country/china?country=~CHN

Isn't this the more pertinent graph? https://ourworldindata.org/co2/country/china?country=USA~IND...

From the perspective of actually fixing the problem (which takes capital investment), the most pertinent graph would be per unit of GDP.

It acts as both an efficiency measure as well as an indication of whether those most able to solve the issue are doing so.

Re: U.S. Exits Paris Climate Accord

#28

Post by giantg2 »

Ekaros wrote: post #18
Sharlin wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

China and the EU can, and should. "Polluter pays" should become the standard policy in international trade in numerous other ways, too.

Wouldn't "user pays" be more logical. I think it is quite dishonest to blame China when consumption happens in Europe or USA... All of the pollution should be transported in calculations where consumption happens.

Then you would be charging people who have no control over the production. The producer nation sets the laws and standards for their facilities.

Re: U.S. Exits Paris Climate Accord

#29

Post by __jf__ »

Meanwhile, awareness/disclosure of climate risk is rising sharply in large publicly traded companies, measured by counting the percentage of companies reporting "climate risk" in their 2019 annual reports:

- 26% of companies in EU

- 9% of companies in APAC

- 7% of companies in US

Still a long way to go obviously, but these numbers have doubled compared to fiscal 2017.

Re: U.S. Exits Paris Climate Accord

#30

Post by corty »

paganel wrote: post #23
roenxi wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here are some interesting graphs from arguably the most transformative economic miracle in human history [0]. The risk isn't the US doing nothing, it is India, Africa, etc, etc deciding that they seriously want a comfortable standard of living. [0] https://ourworldindata.org/co2/country/china?country=~CHN

And people still say Malthus was wrong. At least some of them have woken up to the realisation that exporting your pollution/nasty stuff to other parts of the world doesn't really solve all that much, but even so, they're still a minority, the great majority still believes in silver bullets like recycling, "clean tech" etc.

The silver bullet is natural self-regulation. Mankind will shrink automatically after hitting a real ceiling.
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