In my diary yesterday about Kochs and climate, a reader commented that we in the United States are "not the problem" when it comes to carbon dioxide, that America has reduced its CO2 output in recent years and the greater climate threat comes from the burgeoning economies of Asia,
I thought about this a little and wrote a response, which I wanted to share with the community in a dedicated diary.
First, it is true that America has reduced its carbon output while some Asian countries have increased theirs, In 2007, China stole our crown as the King of the Carbon Emitters. But this country-for-country/tonne-for-tonne comparison obscures a deeper truth and, yes, an inconvenient one.
Let's take a look at our respective spewage.
See corrected numbers below
The temptation to pat ourselves on the back for reaching the #2 spot is strong, and strongly encouraged by the fossil fuel industry. Still, bragging rights aren't that valuable when the country who beats you has four times the people and a growth rate of 9% or better for a decade.
China's population is around 1.336 billion, making their per captia emissions about 7.1 tonnes per person.
US population is about 317 million, with a per person output of 16.4 tonnes.
(Many point to India as a growing climate problem, which it is, but the subcontinent, despite its rapid urbanization and economic expansion, isn't in our league. With a still largely poor, rural population of 1.237 billion, their per capita rate is only 1.62 tonnes per person).
The problem is still us, for the same reason it's been for better than half a century now: we all want to be kings. Our ethos of individual autonomy, coupled with a legacy of profligate resource use, makes us, per person, the greediest pigs at the trough.
What's worse, these emerging economies use American consumers as an economic ideal. Truth be told, living like Caesar's pretty nice if you can swing it and our culture's got some cool cred. Elvis. Coca-cola. And Cadillacs.
But a world of billions of Caesars is obviously not sustainable.
The bright side is that, while we lag behind many in addressing our individual carbon output, we are catching up, and, because we are the behemoth of demand, it will affect how these "developing" economies will function.
Big old, dirty old China is, far and away, the largest producer of photovoltaic panels in the world and last year come in second only to solar-centric Germany for solar megawatts installed. Renewable tech is mature, economically competitive with carbon tech and ripe for rapid expansion everywhere.
Even here in the trough.
Correction: As noted by grubber below, I've got my numbers a bit skewed, having used 2010 total carbon output by country and 2014 population estimates. The reality is slightly less sunny.
Though warmer.
Current EDGAR estimates per capita:
Total emissions per cap
China 9,860,000 7.1
US 5,190,000 16.4