isramart : Carbon Footprint of Nations

isramart news:
In the debate over global warming, many in the United States feel that action to cap carbon emissions in the U.S. won’t do any good if developing countries such as China and India don’t follow suit. What’s worse, the argument goes, is that as energy costs rise in the United States as a result of cap-and-trade, manufacturing in those developing countries becomes even more attractive, leading to a further erosion in the competitiveness of the United States. And it’s clear so far that while the U.S. progresses towards cap-and-trade, China and India have no plans to follow suit (witness India’s unilateral rejection of such a suggestion during Secretary of State Clinton’s visit there this week).

I think there’s a lot of merit to this argument, but I also think there’s a fundamental flaw in the fairness to the argument. Let’s accept for a moment that every conceivable human activity produces carbon dioxide. Collectively, this carbon dioxide is leading to a gradual warming of the earth, which will eventually lead to rising seas, devastation of indigenous species, and other sorts of calamities such as dying polar bears and palm trees along Lake Erie. Let’s further accept that national boundaries are artificial constructs based on geopolitical balances of power, history, aggression and war, and cultures — all constructs that Mother Earth doesn’t give a damn about. Under this scenario, it’s really how much carbon EACH HUMAN BEING emits that matters most, not what each country emits. In other words, in a totally utilitarian world, each human being would emit the same amount of carbon so that the human race collectively can survive.

So how much carbon does each human being emit? One answer can be found in the Carbon Footprint of Nations, a website published by the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. The site ranks countries by the amount of carbon per capita. Of the 68 countries ranked, the United States comes in first, with 29 tons of CO2 per person. Australia and Canada round out the top 3. China ranks towards the bottom with 3.1 tons of CO2 per person, and India is lower yet at 1.8 tons of CO2 per person.

The ranking is important because it illustrates how much each country has to go in terms of reducing carbon. Yes, China and India need to do their part. Waiting for those countries to act before taking action here at home, however, is a logical error when our emissions per capita are so much higher. This is a case where a #1 ranking isn’t anything to be proud of.