being tiny now implies incredible room for growth given growth rates of those countries, which is actually an arugment for more action not less.
> Per capita is the only way we can talk about CO2
Wouldn't it also mean India and china won't have to do anything for decades till they get to same per capita as USA ?
No it doesn't following GP's chain of logic. It doesn't need to do anything till the point it hits US per capita.
Why would any burden fall on china/india given they are already on the low end of per capita.
Can you define what burden falls on them under your per capita model?
China's per-capita output is a problem. But it's not the kind of problem where we can just point fingers at it, and using that as a justification to ignore the mess we're making. (As we range from 'just as bad' to 'much worse'.)
If the US does not reduce it's emissions, yes. (In China's case, it's emissions are currently per-capita similar to most of the EU).
This is a great argument for the US, and the EU to reduce their emissions, instead of sitting around, pointing fingers are China.
Again, if you aren't using per capita metrics, you will get absurd conclusions. If a country splits in half, does that mean it should be allowed to emit twice as much?
Why would EU need to reduce if they are currently 'middle of the road' like you said.
The US is in a terrible position, however, because everything is car-based. It would help if they'd push for more dense development and extending public transit, but there's really no sign of that at all.
No, it really can't. The voters would immediately vote for the candidate that promises to reverse this. Gas prices are a huge political issue in the US, to an irrational extent. Americans cling irrationally to their gigantic SUVs and will do anything to keep them.
>Most European cars are way more efficient than American cars.
Not really, no. Cars these days are all pretty efficient; it's the trucks and SUVs that guzzle gas. Tiny cars really don't get much better fuel economy than mid-size cars any more, and no one buys full-size cars these days (I don't think there's even any made any more). A Prius is way more efficient than some tiny European car like a Smart.
Now if you're talking average fleet economy (which takes into account that so many Americans buy trucks and SUVs instead of cars), then you're correct, but that's because of buying choices. If we all switched to Priuses, we'd easy double (or more) our average fuel economy.
>Admittedly, this is a cultural, not a technological, problem in the US.
Exactly, which is why I was complaining about the sprawl and car culture of the US. Just telling people to buy more efficient cars isn't going to change anything; it's a product of a culture where there's sprawl and too much low-density development and a mindset that everything should be optimized for car-based travel. It's naturally going to lead to many people being selfish and buying larger vehicles than they need. This is the case everywhere where there's private vehicles, including Europe and Japan. I've seen huge SUVs, vans, etc. in Japan and Europe. Of course, they're not that common in those places because fuel prices are high and public transit is good, but if those two factors weren't true there, they'd be full of giant SUVs just like the US.
Is there a country where this isn't an issue? I know its a super big deal here India. There are protests, strikes and political agigatioins on regular basis on this issue. It might actually be the number one issue here.
If gas were $200/gallon, then the amount of attention Americans pay to it would be rational.
We can talk about total global emissions, but then bring it down to the total per capita contribution per country. e.g. China has 20% of the worlds population so are “allowed” 20% of the worlds total emissions.
There's also a simple solution to getting trade partners on board. It's called a carbon tariff.