China to pass US as top greenhouse gas source this year

[jetsetter]

China will pass the United States as the world's largest greenhouse gas emitter in the world earlier than had been initially anticipated. Earlier forecasts predicted that this wouldn't happen until the year 2010, but China's rapid economic growth has had a direct effect on its emissions, as the country is burning coal at a prodigious rate. According to an International Energy Agency representative, the state of affairs is such that China's emissions levels are high enough that they'll likely counteract attempts by some other countries to reduce their own.

The hypocrisy of China's unenviable position is made even more clear when you recall that the country signed the Kyoto Protocol. Its standing as a Kyoto signatory affords it a sort of moral high ground (or at least the illusion of such), while it freely ignores those very terms in the name of its own economy, saying that to be held to the standards it saw fit to support would be "unfair."This is also called, "having your cake and eating it." Let's keep in mind that China's a nuclear power capable of developing (and showcasing, when it suits it) very modern cities like Shanghai. One could therefore surmise that the country has the technological means to make the advancements necessary to combat its rampant pollution. The more valid question is: Does it really have any desire to do so at all?

http://www.autobloggreen.com/2007/04...rce-this-year/

SHANGHAI, China (AP) - China will pass the United States as the world's biggest source of greenhouse gasses this year, an official with the International Energy Agency was quoted as saying.
China had been forecast to surpass the U.S. in 2010, but its sizzling economic growth has pushed the date forward, the IEA's chief economist, Fatih Birol, was quoted as saying in an interview appearing in Tuesday's Wall Street Journal newspaper.

"In the past couple of months, economic growth and related coal consumption has grown at such an unexpected rate," Birol was quoted as saying. China's rising emissions will effectively cancel out attempts by other countries to reduce their own, he said.

Those comments follow the weekend release of a Chinese government report detailing the costs of climate change but asserting that the country should focus on development before cutting greenhouse gas emissions.

Higher than average temperatures meant spreading deserts, worsening droughts, shrinking glaciers and increased spread of diseases, said the report, compiled by more than a dozen government bodies. It said emission limits were unfair and would constrain China's current energy and manufacturing industries.

China is a signatory to the Kyoto Protocol on reducing greenhouse gasses, but is exempt from its restrictions because it is a developing country.

The Paris-based IEA advises developed country on energy policy.

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php...show_article=1

Were are number two!!!!!!

lol.

[Firecat]

Maybe all the hippies will move there now, that'll really give them something to bitch about. Pollution, human rights abuse etc.

[BlaRo]

Good, send the hippies over there, maybe they'll actually get something accomplished.

China has so many problems right now it's irritating. So it's no surprise we're #1 in pollution. Then again, they do have 3, 4 times the population of America, and if that many people want automobiles and use electricity I'm surprised it took so long.

[WheatKing]

Odd but.. true.. China will be #1 this year as a polluter.. yet.. the world will be buying the bulk of Kyoto credits from them to reduce their own carbon emissions as china has "extra"..

China doesn't have to adhere to strict standards because they're a "developing nation".. who just happens to have a nuke program, be hosting the olympics, and has a space program.

I'm so glad my country sends them 2 billion a year in "foreign aid".. and now be forced to buy kyoto credits from the worlds largest polluter because my country is a "gross polluter"

Mean while they're passing laws to make incadescent lightbulbs illegal.. and at the same time, raising electricity rates because so many people are conserving, the electrical utility is having a hard time selling off it's now excess capacity.

Can you sense my excitement! YA ENVIONAZI'S. YA SOCIALISM.. YA CANADA.. YA CHINA!

Anyone who doesn't see Kyoto as a wealth distribution scheme is a moron. Follow the money.. see who benefits.. it sure as hell isn't the average citizen.

[WheatKing]

Originally Posted by Firecat

Maybe all the hippies will move there now, that'll really give them something to bitch about. Pollution, human rights abuse etc.

What?? and leave the safety of their gun-free social indoctrination centersuniversities?

Never happen..

[tigger]

Originally Posted by BlaRo

Then again, they do have 3, 4 times the population of America, and if that many people want automobiles and use electricity I'm surprised it took so long.

I think about 2/3 of China lives at the poverty level. The number of people not impoverished roughly equals the US' population, and they're the ones getting cars and getting factories built. Regardless, I think calling them a "developing nation" is a joke.

[FATMOUSE]

Originally Posted by WheatKing

What?? and leave the safety of their gun-free social indoctrination centersuniversities?

Never happen..

May I be the first to say wtf.

[I<3myV8]

Originally Posted by WheatKing

Odd but.. true.. China will be #1 this year as a polluter.. yet.. the world will be buying the bulk of Kyoto credits from them to reduce their own carbon emissions as china has "extra"..

China doesn't have to adhere to strict standards because they're a "developing nation".. who just happens to have a nuke program, be hosting the olympics, and has a space program.

I'm so glad my country sends them 2 billion a year in "foreign aid".. and now be forced to buy kyoto credits from the worlds largest polluter because my country is a "gross polluter"

Mean while they're passing laws to make incadescent lightbulbs illegal.. and at the same time, raising electricity rates because so many people are conserving, the electrical utility is having a hard time selling off it's now excess capacity.

Can you sense my excitement! YA ENVIONAZI'S. YA SOCIALISM.. YA CANADA.. YA CHINA!

Anyone who doesn't see Kyoto as a wealth distribution scheme is a moron. Follow the money.. see who benefits.. it sure as hell isn't the average citizen.

I thought Canada stopped sending foreign aid to China a few years back. Then they started sending it to some genocidal african dictator.

I think and I hope the conservatives put a stop to it.