Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by Arodex 13 days ago
>CO2 emissions have been consistently declining in both the USA and Europe for over 2 decades now. The bulk of the CO2 increase over that time period comes from China and India.

Global warming didn't start two weeks ago, nor two decades ago. Most of human generated CO2 and most of the calories accumulated by greenhouse effect are still directly caused by Americans, both in absolute numbers and relative per capita.

>Americans also invented the solar photovoltaic panel.

Americans also elected PV panel haters, and are still destroying whole regions to extract more oil, both overseas and at home.

>Also, since we're playing this game right now, I'd be remiss to not remind you that American individuals do over an order of magnitude more charitable giving than the entire EU combined, on a raw dollar basis.

Hi, cool, are you going to give AC units to Europe? And the Middle East? And India/Bangladesh etc.? Maybe we should prosternate at your feet and thank you for you magnifiscence, oh great solvers of problem you caused.
1 comments
eudamoniac 13 days ago
The only reason US has more total output than EU, if that's true, is because EU was and is incapable of scaling industry, innovating, creating value, etc, which is why in 2026 they still see a basic AC unit as unaffordable luxury and why we are posting on this American website about American companies all the time.
link
Arodex 13 days ago
Ho, sure, the fact you "emptied" a while continent of its inhabitants and got cheap land and tons of every natural resources while Europe had already expended theirs during the previous century has nothing to do with it: it is YOU who are superior human being.

Tell me how you would install AC units for all of 2 millions inhabitants of Paris, a city older than your country, the third most visited city in the world, without destroying its character, but more importantly: a stone city, at the bottom of a sedimentary basin, without making the heat problem worse to anyone in the streets or unable to buy an AC?

You can then yap again about how easy and cheap it was to punch AC ducts through the flimsy walls of your McMansion in the soulless suburbia you live in, an hour of boring highway from your "scaling, creative, value creating" job.

link
eudamoniac 13 days ago
Resource constraints are irrelevant. I didn't posit a claim for why EU is incapable; I certainly didn't mention "superior human being"s. If EU had had resources, EU would have put out more CO2. You blame USA as though it was a decision unique to them, but they just happened to be in place to do it. No country in that position would have behaved differently.

So, you can get over your cities' "character" or be hot, whichever you prefer. Sorry bud. (Not that Paris's character is intact these days, anyway.)

link