Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Per polluter or per capita CO2 emission

The following article is a response to an article posted at grist.org (http://gristmill.grist.org/story/2007/7/30/121017/375#1).

Perhaps it is true that the U.S. is creating CO2 pollution more than 3 times that of China on the so-called "per capita" basis.

But how about per "polluter" basis? Less than 5% of the Mainland Chinese population is creating a significant amount of CO2 that is comparable to that of an average Americans.

To be conservative, suppose 50 million Chinese are producing the world #1 amount of CO2. Compared to the 250 million Americans who are producing significant amount of CO2, on average, an average Chinese polluter is producing more than 5 times more CO2 than an average American polluter.

What is the solution to this horrible situation?

1. Stop globalization. Globalization means production is not only shifted from energy efficient countries to energy inefficient countries, but also from more ethical and regulated developed countries to more corrupt and unregulated countries.

2. Impose CO2 taxes (tariffs) on products imported from highly energy inefficient and unethical countries.

3. Impose quotas on dirty imports unless the product of origin can show proofs of CO2 reduction and guaranteed energy efficiency. This allows "ethical" developing countries to produce and restrict the pollution created by "unethical" developing countries.

4. Establish (CO2/exports) ratio figures for each exporting country. Sanction those countries that produce an excessive amount of CO2/export. This makes sure ethical developing countries will continue to grow whereas unethical developing countries will not be able harm our world any more.

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