The BBC reports on the latest news from climate scientists at the UN. Oh, sorry, this is all rubbish and just a Chinese hoax, says Trump allegedly. The world needs the USA and China fully engaged for the good of our children and grandchildren. For some nations, rising sea levels are a threat to their very existence.
Reading means you stop watching soaps on TV, tweet less, forget lobbyists from the gun and oil people and actually read reports. A true statesman does this and listens to knowledgeable and wise advisers.
See https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-49817804 .
If you look at https://earth.nullschool.net and select the appropriate overlay from the menu, you can see that the overwhelming polluters are 'emerging' industrialised countries like China, that are currently having their own version of our past 'industrial revolution' with all of what that brings.
ReplyDeleteIt would be unfair to say to them 'you can't do that' when most Western countries have already done it and subsequently moved on to be 'greener'. Although it could be argued that most of that is because the 'heavy' western industries have been decimated by cheaper Chinese imports which have made production in the west uneconomical.
The best way folks can do something about climate change is not to jet thousands of miles to join in protests, but to stop buying stuff they don't need, most of which has been produced in countries that continue to contribute to the majority of pollution, either at the point of manufacture or when items are (all too quickly) discarded.
It's all to easy to blame various governments for poor policy decisions, when the problem is really the consumer driven disposable nature of Western economics and lifestyle.
I agree that it is crass stupidity to tell emerging countries they cannot do what we did. At the same time, renewables are now FAR cheaper and we should be leading by pushing renewables technology and not subsiding oil and coal. I also agree that it is us the consumer demanding ever cheaper goods that has resulted in Chinese growth at the expense of western nations. My basic feeling is we could do so much more. As a non-USA citizen I view President Trump's actions as stupid.
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