In his article, John Hide argues that the West is saving the climate, while China and India are destroying it:
That’s far from the truth as the West is still the main polluter by several metrics. But it doesn’t seem that way if you misinterpret the information like John Hide did — see below. Given he blocked me without trying to discuss it after I left a comment on his article, I suppose it wasn’t just a misinterpretation but an attempt at disinformation. Maybe it wasn’t, but then why would he be bothered by my comment and run away from the discussion? Anyway, don’t blindly trust me, decide for yourself.
Besides my comment, articles by an energy expert Michael Barnard, also prove John’s article wrong — see at the bottom.
Here’s the full text of my comment, and John’s article is available on the link above. You be the judge…
China discovered a rich field of oil few days ago, which might change the coal equation.
But more importantly, in order to understand the situation correctly, we must emphasize a few points…
First, when we look at consumption-based CO2 emissions, the West still leads the way:
This means Chinese coal burning is, in the end, demanded and consumed mostly by the West. That’s not much of a saving the climate.
Second, the West still leads the way in per capita CO2 emission compared to China and India:
Third, when we look at cumulative CO2 emissions, the West leads the way by far:
EU topped both China and India, USA is leading the way by far, even compared to China and India combined. the West produced more than double than CO2 emissions of China and India combined. If on top of that, we take into account the significantly bigger populations of China and India, and calculate per capita cumulative CO2 emissions, in total, the West produced more than quadruple the amount per capita than China and India combined.
If China and India continue with their current CO2 emissions (jointly 15 billion tons/year), even if they double it, it will take them more than 10 years to catch up with the West in terms of cumulative CO2 emissions.
The West has a big climate depth to repay. Abandoning consumerism, which is mostly based on China’s dirty industry, would be the most moral way to do it.
Additional info I found today…
China’s wind and solar electricity production will overtake coal in 2024:
Analysis of China’s energy sector by Michael Barnard, an expert in energy sector, which shows how much is John Hide wrong in his article:
Be mindful of what you read and believe, and if something sounds true because it lets you and the society you live in off the hook, don’t fall for such self-deception. And if you’re living in the West, please make an effort and consume extremely less than what you consume now. If you do, your children will thank you one day.
