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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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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End of conversation
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Of course you have to ignore Europe to say this.
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Where "our lead", per capita, is still well behind most of the world, which may reduce its motivational oomph.
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A lot of good points here but if other countries are going to follow our lead I think there's more merit to the hope that they'll emulate our lifestyle and habits of consumption and with that any changes we make to drastically reduce these.
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Look at your own figure in #2
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This was the same thinking behind letting China into the WTO. More open markets will lead to a more democratic society. How did that work out?
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"Of course, we've ALREADY cut emissions. Nobody followed our lead." So wrong. See Europe. US is not leading. It's being dragged reluctantly. Before any talk of US leading the effort, it just needs to join in and do its fair share. Same goes for my country.
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We can't even get China to stop barbecuing dogs alive. They are barbaric. And cosmetic companies who say they don't test on animals, send their products to China where an "independent lab" tests them on animals. In short, we dance to their tune.
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Again, this 'follow our lead' idea comes from some moralistic hand waving based on nada. Econ let's us know things don't work that way. They need incentives, nowt wishful thinking by progressives.
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This is a caricature of a strawman. Surely you’ve heard of eco-tarrifs before? China may have the most emissions. But the global market is still here
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