Worldwide decline due to climate change

[GuitarStv]

Yeah, there really isn't much hope for society long term.  The USA can't do it alone.

WAT? India, per capita, produces ~10% as much CO2 as the US. China produces less than half. The US continues to be one of the worst producers of CO2 on the planet. We're not doing anything alone, other than being delusional.

What???  The earth doesn't care about "per capita".  What matters is the total amount put into the atmosphere.  Here are some numbers from 2017.  This shows that the US can't do it alone.

World                                      45261.2517    100.00%
 China                                     12454.7110    27.51%
 United States                     6673.4497    14.75%
 European Union (28)[3]     4224.5217    9.33%
 European Union (15)[4]     3374.0348    7.45%
 India                                     2379.1668    6.43%    
 Russia                                     2199.1173    4.86%    
 Japan                                     1353.3473    2.99%    
 Brazil                                     1017.8745    2.25%    
 Germany                              894.0570    1.98%

By your definition then, the US is the second biggest problem in the world and needs to radically change it's damaging ways.  It's certainly not 'doing it alone'.

[FIREstache]

Yeah, there really isn't much hope for society long term.  The USA can't do it alone.

WAT? India, per capita, produces ~10% as much CO2 as the US. China produces less than half. The US continues to be one of the worst producers of CO2 on the planet. We're not doing anything alone, other than being delusional.

What???  The earth doesn't care about "per capita".  What matters is the total amount put into the atmosphere.  Here are some numbers from 2017.  This shows that the US can't do it alone.

World                                      45261.2517    100.00%
 China                                     12454.7110    27.51%
 United States                     6673.4497    14.75%
 European Union (28)[3]     4224.5217    9.33%
 European Union (15)[4]     3374.0348    7.45%
 India                                     2379.1668    6.43%    
 Russia                                     2199.1173    4.86%    
 Japan                                     1353.3473    2.99%    
 Brazil                                     1017.8745    2.25%    
 Germany                              894.0570    1.98%

By your definition then, the US is the second biggest problem in the world and needs to radically change it's damaging ways.  It's certainly not 'doing it alone'.

It needs to make changes, and has been, but it can't solve this problem on its own.  I don't think there's much hope the whole world comes together to make any meaningful impact.

[GuitarStv]

You realize that the bulk of China's output of CO2 is produced to manufacture goods purchased by Americans, right?

[cerat0n1a]

What???  The earth doesn't care about "per capita".  What matters is the total amount put into the atmosphere.  Here are some numbers from 2017.  This shows that the US can't do it alone.

The comment you'll often hear in Europe is that there's not much point to all the things we're doing if the US continues to do very little.
The US government is responsible for the 4% of the world's population who make up 14% of the emissions (and, Americans, like Europeans, are also indirectly responsible for a significant part of China's emissions.)

The only countries that didn't ratify the Kyoto protocol are Sudan, Afghanistan and the USA. The only way the problem gets solved is by the whole world agreeing to take action. The Chinese and Indian governments do at least accept the need to reduce Carbon emissions, whereas the current US government is promising to withdraw from the 2016 Paris agreement in November.

The idea that the US 'cannot do it alone' would be hilarious if the consequences weren't such a big deal.

[scottish]

You realize that the bulk of China's output of CO2 is produced to manufacture goods purchased by Americans, right?

If the US were to stop buying stuff from China they would sell it to themselves as well as Africa and Europe.   There's a big focus in China on raising the standard of living to something approaching first world levels, they are perfectly capable of relying on their own consumer culture.

[John Galt incarnate!]

It needs to make changes, and has been, but it can't solve this problem on its own.  I don't think there's much hope the whole world comes together to make any meaningful impact.

Neither do I.

Nation-states act in their own interest.

Translation -----> CHEATING

[GuitarStv]

You realize that the bulk of China's output of CO2 is produced to manufacture goods purchased by Americans, right?

If the US were to stop buying stuff from China they would sell it to themselves as well as Africa and Europe.   There's a big focus in China on raising the standard of living to something approaching first world levels, they are perfectly capable of relying on their own consumer culture.

If the biggest importer of Chinese goods stopped (or hell, let's say reduced by 50%) there would be a pretty significant reduction in production.  China's GDP is expected to drop by a whole percentage point just due to the relatively minor impacts of Trump's personal trade war.  If your theory was correct, there would be no impact to China's production . . . it would be picked up by other countries.

[scottish]

You realize that the bulk of China's output of CO2 is produced to manufacture goods purchased by Americans, right?

If the US were to stop buying stuff from China they would sell it to themselves as well as Africa and Europe.   There's a big focus in China on raising the standard of living to something approaching first world levels, they are perfectly capable of relying on their own consumer culture.

If the biggest importer of Chinese goods stopped (or hell, let's say reduced by 50%) there would be a pretty significant reduction in production.  China's GDP is expected to drop by a whole percentage point just due to the relatively minor impacts of Trump's personal trade war.  If your theory was correct, there would be no impact to China's production . . . it would be picked up by other countries.

Of course there would be a dip.    My point is that the Chinese economy would bounce back relatively quickly regardless.    China has ambitions way beyond selling stuff to the US.    The Huawei entity list thing is going to have negative long term repercussions for the US as Chinese technology companies move to eliminate US components from their products.