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by nimmer 1780 days ago
No, you have to take in account energy usage and pollution attributed to the consumer of at the end of the production chain.

E.g. if you import a phone from China you have to account for the energy usage and pollution as yours.
2 comments
sologoub 1779 days ago
That basically blames US consumers for Chinese policy and environmental practices - how is a US consumer going to force China to stop using coal powerplants?

The choice/substitution argument doesn’t work when there are no practical alternatives. This is why climate change and pollution are not individual choices, but a global imperative. Anything short of global coordinated action to mitigate won’t work (and won’t be enough). What individuals can do is put pressure on their officials and buy sensibly when choice is there.

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throwaway029001 1777 days ago
> That basically blames US consumers for Chinese policy

Not at all, this is not personal consumer's choice. Consumers can only make efforts to fight consumerism and push for political change.

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abeppu 1780 days ago
Do you have a reference to a list which does that calculation?

All the other states at the to of that carbon per capita list also seem like they're highly dependent on imports, possibly more than the US, so I'd expect that many of the factors you describe also apply to them. The gulf states also have to get their phones from abroad.

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