[rc2634]

I wasn’t blaming anyone. I was just stating a fact. Americans consuming less energy is not going to prevent countries like China and India from consuming more energy coming from dirty sources such as coal. Americans consuming less material on the other hand can decrease carbon output in China but that will mostly like just be replaced by material consumption from the fast-developing nations.

[tonyedgecombe]

Carbon emissions from India are 1.9 tons per capita, for China it is 7.38 per capita and America is 15.52 tons per capita. China would be lower still if it wasn't a factory for American consumer goods.

[rc2634]

Looking at per capita is useless when those countries have a combined population of over 2 billion (~6x US population). Climate change and the Earth doesn’t care about per capita, it only cares about the total output of carbon. The reality is that American output has most likely peaked, while China and India will keep growing for decades to come.

[tonyedgecombe]

Per-capita emissions are extremely important when you are trying to get the political will to make changes.