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No need to try to convince me that the UN has to make ugly compromises to bring countries like India and China to the table.
My concern is tRump ignorantly and unilaterally withdrawing America and doing his damnedest to dismantle domestic regulations to battle global warming.
Neither you nor I have any influence on the UN, India or China.
We can only influence domestic issues and even then only by an infinitesimal degree.
The US, in the past, has been 5% of the world's population using 25% of the resources. This is changing somewhat as the rest of the world develops, but we (and western nations) use outsized resources.
A vast amount of the "dirty" places MAKE STUFF WE USE.
For example, India make vast amounts of concrete rebar...in a dirty fashion...that is in your buildings. They make the castings for your sewer covers and grate.
And so on and so on.
This has always been the way of the world and your inability to notice it troubles me. The 1% among the British lived 20km out in the nice green country away from Manchester or Birmingham, so I'd guess you'd say "notice the poor people live in dirty places while rich keep their places clean", when in fact it is the total opposite - the rich require that pollution to support their lifestyle.
In perhaps the ultimate example, Andrew Carnegie and Frick (the steel kings and coke kings) moved from Pittsburgh to NYC and said outright that the cities of the East were clean.
Put another way, they chit on Pittsburgh and left the working poor there to breathe it while they lived in style. What else is new?
Perhaps you will someday understand that what I describe is the idea behind terms like sustainability, efficiency and life-cycle costs.
In other news, the women who wear blood diamonds don't have AK's around their necks.
The US, in the past, has been 5% of the world's population using 25% of the resources. This is changing somewhat as the rest of the world develops, but we (and western nations) use outsized resources.
A vast amount of the "dirty" places MAKE STUFF WE USE.
For example, India make vast amounts of concrete rebar...in a dirty fashion...that is in your buildings. They make the castings for your sewer covers and grate.
And so on and so on.
This has always been the way of the world and your inability to notice it troubles me. The 1% among the British lived 20km out in the nice green country away from Manchester or Birmingham, so I'd guess you'd say "notice the poor people live in dirty places while rich keep their places clean", when in fact it is the total opposite - the rich require that pollution to support their lifestyle.
In perhaps the ultimate example, Andrew Carnegie and Frick (the steel kings and coke kings) moved from Pittsburgh to NYC and said outright that the cities of the East were clean.
Put another way, they chit on Pittsburgh and left the working poor there to breathe it while they lived in style. What else is new?
Perhaps you will someday understand that what I describe is the idea behind terms like sustainability, efficiency and life-cycle costs.
In other news, the women who wear blood diamonds don't have AK's around their necks.
Forbes is reporting that China is forcing it's provinces and industry to reduce pollution levels. It's not because they care about the environment, it's because "it lifts the nation's standing in international commerce." The smog disrupts air flights and seaport operations. China has also committed to be part of the Paris Climate agreement. "The United States and China together produce 42% of all CO2 emissions." Oh dear. It's an interesting article. (China is Swallowing a Bitter Pill And Trying To Cut Its Coal Use. )
The Guardian is reporting that "India the worlds third biggest green house gas emitter, has pledged to source 40% of its electricity from renewable and other low carbon sources by 2030." "As one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change, India recognizes the domestic benefits of confronting this issue...." (India Unveils climate change plan)
That's all great talk but will they walk the walk? Why couldn't we have done all of this decades ago instead of waiting for the 11th hour?
The US is significant Madison because we are in the top three of the CO2 polluters, and I think that's a more important issue than twisting it into a partisan agenda.
"The Earth has enough resources to meet people's needs, but will never have enough to satisfy people's greed." Mahatma Gandhi was a very wise man.
It's always been all about the coin.
It's a simple link showing 500 filthy cities of the world. Not sure how you're seeing something twisted into a partisan agenda.
When you break it down on a per person basis we are the worst! China and India 4x our population, yet China doesn't even produce double what we make and we still out produce India.
When you break it down on a per person basis we are the worst! China and India 4x our population, yet China doesn't even produce double what we make and we still out produce India.
This is about dirty cities not per capital pollution. Please stay on topic.
This is about dirty cities not per capital pollution. Please stay on topic.
Ok my apologies. What benefits US cities has been the extermination of the natives, large land area, and being a relatively new civilization. We also import most of our dirtiest products from overseas.
Ok my apologies. What benefits US cities has been the extermination of the natives, large land area, and being a relatively new civilization. We also import most of our dirtiest products from overseas.
No not at all I meant pushing the natives out allowed our country to expand to cover the entire United States giving us more land to work with. There were millions of natives here before us.
The UN makes lots of bad decisions/pronouncements.
Does that shock you?
And the US should not be expected to pay for their bad decisions.
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