Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Climate change can't happen without the US

Bush says climate change can't happen without India & China. Let's see if that is true.

This graph here shows that the CO2 emissions by country. Notice that the two most polluting countries are China & USA. India is miles below in the graph. So, to bring about a significant change in the environment, China & USA must change their polluting habits. And since the Americans claim they are the world leaders, why not take the lead here? Why pull India's name into the equation? Even if India were to change it's habit, it is not going to make any significant impact (this doesn't mean we continue polluting). The onus lies on the Americans & the Chinese.

The Americans are the most polluting ones. Consider this, just 300 million Americans manage to burn 25% of the world's oil. And they produce 4.5 pounds of soild waste each day. More than folks from most countries. Not to forget their phenominal food consumption.

America's refusal to ratify the Kyoto Protocol is another indication of their unwillingness to change their wasteful ways. It is also the receipient of the most polluting country award (along with two others) handed out by the UN (where it has immense clout). In face of all this, it doesn't sound too credible of the Americans asking us to bring about climate change. The US must own up and change it's polluting habits first.

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