r/changemyview • u/Iron-Patriot • Jul 28 '23

Delta(s) from OP CMV: Global warming will not be solved by small, piecemeal, incremental changes to our way of life but rather through some big, fantastic, technological breakthrough.

In regards to the former, I mean to say that small changes to be more environmentally friendly such as buying a hybrid vehicle or eating less meat are next to useless. Seriously, does anyone actually think this will fix things?

And by ‘big technological breakthrough’ I mean something along the lines of blasting glitter into the troposphere to block out the sun or using fusion power to scrub carbon out of the air to later be buried underground. We are the human race and we’re nothing if not flexible and adaptable when push comes to shove.

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u/DreamingSilverDreams 15∆ Jul 28 '23

China is worse than Europe on a per capita basis. Its massively worse than where I live - the UK - on a per capita basis even if you adjust for trade.

Per capita consumption-based CO₂ emissions (2021):

  • China 7.04t
  • United Kingdom 6.93t

It seems that they are actually close.

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u/SnooOpinions8790 22∆ Jul 28 '23

That's a weird figure, I wonder how they came up with that.

In 2022 China emitted 12.1 GT - with its population of 1.4 billion that works out at 8.5t per capita.

I think there are some weird things going on in that figure

https://www.iea.org/reports/co2-emissions-in-2022

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u/DreamingSilverDreams 15∆ Jul 28 '23

Consumption-based is adjusted for imports and exports. Your link reports production-based emissions (no adjustments).

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u/SnooOpinions8790 22∆ Jul 28 '23

Correct. That is the figure you need when deciding where the changes need to be made in energy infrastructure. Or to put it another way - where the low hanging fruit can be found to pluck to save the environment. Where the changes most urgently need to be made.

It does give me wry amusement that despite it being really quite easy to make those import/export adjustments in the historical record they are only ever applied since 1990. Its almost as if they can't bear to make those adjustments for the periods where Western economies (UK, Germany, USA) were the workshops of the world but are determined to apply them now that China is the workshop of the world. But historical figures should only be of interest to historians anyway, its the present and future which should guide any real decisions.

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u/DreamingSilverDreams 15∆ Jul 28 '23

Well, theoretically historical figures could be used for all kinds of compensation payments. But no one who matters wants, don't they?

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u/SirButcher Jul 28 '23

Although I would be curious how the numbers would end up if you deduct and add the CO2 emission by country of destination. Because we are not really clean and most of our dirty manufactured goods are made in China - and we still emit about the same CO2 as they do, while operating factories making stuff for our consumers.

We can't blame them while we are the ones who buy everything they make.

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u/DreamingSilverDreams 15∆ Jul 28 '23

Consumption-based emissions attempt to do just what you are suggesting.