Polyester Gore, or, a Snake-Oil Convenient Lie

[sharkman]

So to get around the fact that China is almost the worst overall contributor, they per capita it and tah dah! With a population of 1.something billion, they come out smelling like a rose.

Pure nonsense, but coming from the UN, I'm not surprised.

[gc1765]

Per capita emissions really are a non sequitur, they simply don't make any difference. They might if all Americans consumed like Al Gore, but they don't. Joe Smith, the Canadian rides a bicycle, and re-cycles everything, and is a vegetarian, but not all Canadians are like him either. Per capita figures might be some sort of teaching device, but it is what is emitted, in total, that counts. The fact is that Canada emits more or less 2% of the world's greenhouse gases, and China, starting this year or next, will be the world's greatest emitter. Whatever Canada does, for good or evil, will make no significant difference as far as greenhouse gases are concerned.

Using your logic, I could claim that Al Gore is a saint when it comes to the environment. Al Gore may have used 221,000 kWh per year, but America used about 1,000,000,000,000 kWh per year or about 5 million times what Al Gore used. The problem here, of course, is that Al Gore is one person and America is about 300 million.

[rover1]

Per capita emissions really are a non sequitur, they simply don't make any difference. They might if all Americans consumed like Al Gore, but they don't. Joe Smith, the Canadian rides a bicycle, and re-cycles everything, and is a vegetarian, but not all Canadians are like him either. Per capita figures might be some sort of teaching device, but it is what is emitted, in total, that counts. The fact is that Canada emits more or less 2% of the world's greenhouse gases, and China, starting this year or next, will be the world's greatest emitter. Whatever Canada does, for good or evil, will make no significant difference as far as greenhouse gases are concerned.

Using your logic, I could claim that Al Gore is a saint when it comes to the environment. Al Gore may have used 221,000 kWh per year, but America used about 1,000,000,000,000 kWh per year or about 5 million times what Al Gore used. The problem here, of course, is that Al Gore is one person and America is about 300 million.

You might think that Al Gore is a saint, and I might think Al Gore is a sinner, but it doesn't really matter what we think of Al Gore, or Joe Smith. What is important, in my view, is the total amount of emissions, and what they are doing. In the end, it is the total ppm of atmospheric CO2 that is held to influence matters. In this regard, the doings of a country which has an insignificant amount of emissions, no matter what the per capita figures say, can never influence the outcome, so far as science is concerned.

[jbg]

You might think that Al Gore is a saint, and I might think Al Gore is a sinner, but it doesn't really matter what we think of Al Gore, or Joe Smith. What is important, in my view, is the total amount of emissions, and what they are doing. In the end, it is the total ppm of atmospheric CO2 that is held to influence matters. In this regard, the doings of a country which has an insignificant amount of emissions, no matter what the per capita figures say, can never influence the outcome, so far as science is concerned.

Bullroar!!!

CO2 is 3% of all GHG's. Let's say 2.8% of it was there before the industrial era. Even if we take all of the cars off the road in all countries of the world and revert to cave-man living, do you think it would change one temperature at one (non-urban) location on one day?

[rover1]

You might think that Al Gore is a saint, and I might think Al Gore is a sinner, but it doesn't really matter what we think of Al Gore, or Joe Smith. What is important, in my view, is the total amount of emissions, and what they are doing. In the end, it is the total ppm of atmospheric CO2 that is held to influence matters. In this regard, the doings of a country which has an insignificant amount of emissions, no matter what the per capita figures say, can never influence the outcome, so far as science is concerned.

Bullroar!!!

CO2 is 3% of all GHG's. Let's say 2.8% of it was there before the industrial era. Even if we take all of the cars off the road in all countries of the world and revert to cave-man living, do you think it would change one temperature at one (non-urban) location on one day?

Forgive me, I meant to say atmospheric GHG's. I think that the 3% CO2 number might be a bit low, though.