1/Here is a thread about climate change that's going to make a lot of people mad. Basically, America, on its own, has a LOT power to stop climate change than almost anyone admits.https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2018-10-14/china-is-the-climate-change-battleground …
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9/Of course, I screwed this whole thread up with a typo in the first tweet, which should have read "a LOT less power" instead of "a LOT power", but let's go on.
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10/Another way we Americans try to preserve the illusion of control is by claiming that China will follow our lead on emissions - that if we cut emissions unilaterally, they'd follow suit. Of course, we've ALREADY cut emissions. Nobody followed our lead.
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11/Nor did China start slashing emissions after Kyoto, or after Paris. The idea that we Americans rule the world via our moral leadership is just another illusion of control.
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12/Yet another way we try to preserve the illusion of control is by making the false claim that "degrowth" in rich countries will solve the problem. In fact, China already contributes far more to global growth than we do.https://twitter.com/bopinion/status/1051242765173043200 …
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13/And finally, the biggest and most important way we Americans try to preserve the illusion of control is by simple denialism. Many Americans pretend that climate science is more uncertain than it really is, or that climate scientists are dishonest, etc.https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/28/opinion/climate-of-complete-certainty.html …
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14/It's all just an illusion. America is NOT in the driver's seat when it comes to climate change, and it's time for us to acknowledge that horrible, gut-wrenching fact. Because it is a fact.
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15/Does this mean America should abandon our efforts to fight climate change? Of course not!!! We should be taxing carbon, building green infrastructure, researching green energy technology, etc.!
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16/BUT, on our own, this won't be nearly enough. We need to do all we can to encourage China to decarbonize. This includes sharing all of our green energy tech with China, and even trying to pay them to decarbonize.pic.twitter.com/nVkquYUTAF
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17/It probably also includes other, less friendly and positive incentives.pic.twitter.com/rVbNtSW9a3
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18/But the horrible truth is, even all of these incentives probably have only a marginal ability to sway China's decisions. Like it or not, the future of our planet is in the hands of some folks in Beijing. (end)
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I don’t quite get how this chart says the US’s exported production to China is a small share of China’s overall output... the chart line for production in China looks massive, why would we not be a significant contributor to this?
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The amount of extra carbon emissions accounted for by the U.S.' trade with other countries is equal to the difference between the two U.S. lines.
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This literally offers no evidence for your argument. Manufacturing had effectively transferred from western countries to the east at the millenium. Exports drive those economies. Their emissions are a product of our quest for cheaper labor.
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If you think this isn't evidence for my argument, then you just don't understand the chart at all, and there's nothing I can do for you.
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China's rising curve coincides perfectly with our increasing imports of their goods. Capitalism is dependent on global trade, primarily us. If we abolished capitalism their goods would cease to have buyers and emissions would be cut. https://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/balance/c5700.html …
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Preventing climate change is a collective action problem and any major country that doesn't join in is a freeloader unfairly gaining competitive advantage over other countries taking action. 1/2
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The US is the one major country withdrawing from the Paris accord;
could be forgiven for asking, "if
is not making an effort, we're still screwed, *and* at competitive disadvantage; so why should we?" 2/2
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This chart would indicated around 2mln tons of Co2 annually is cause by mfg for export? Am I reading this right? This is still quite a bit, and doesn't take into account Co2 frm shipping, etc.
Thanks. Twitter will use this to make your timeline better. UndoUndo
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