writeaboutwarming

March 5, 2017 - China's coal consumption dropped for the third year in a row in 2016.  This, coupled with the country's shift away from heavy industry, could well portend cleaner air and water. As you know, cleaner air in China means cleaner air everywhere. With a population of 1.35 billion people, China currently produces twice as much carbon dioxide in the form of emissions as the United States. Given that the US has a population less than 1/4 the size of China's, their emissions would quadruple our own, if their standard of living matched ours. Thank goodness it doesn't. Be aware, however, that the government of China is transitioning to an economy based on consumer spending. That could spell trouble. In the meantime, China's National Bureau of Statistics indicates that China's coal consumption fell by 4.7 percent in 2016. Coal's share of total energy consumed fell to 62% in 2016, from 64% in 2015. In the United States, by contrast, the government ple...

April 25, 2013 - In the world as we presently know it, the truth seems to sneak up on us.   Media of every description trumpet their version of reality, and after hearing it long enough and often enough, it becomes as familiar as an old sweater.    Yes, there’s a niggling at the back of the brain that asks “But what about A, B, or C?”   That question, along with so many others, never gets asked – or answered – in the media, and that is supposed to help us forget our doubts.   Time passes, doubts fade away to nothing, then all of a sudden – there it is!   THAT’S what we thought all long.     The truth has snuck up on us once again. Such, I would contend, is the case with the story of renewable energy.   HA! says the fossil fuel industry.   They can never catch up with us.   We have all those lovely government subsidies, people love to drive all those gas-guzzling cars, we are the most profitable business in the world.   Consu...

October 22, 2012 - China surpassed the United States as the world's largest producer of carbon dioxide in 2006.  Three quarters of a million people died prematurely in China, that same year, from the effects of air pollution.  The Chinese government censored the World Bank report in which these data appeared, saying it was "too sensitive and could cause social unrest."  I find it hard to believe the Chinese people don't already know that they're choking to death on their own waste.  Unfortunately, I think they also believe that their pollution problem is no worse than that of other large countries.  It is, in fact, much worse.  For while per-capita energy consumption in the United States is five times as high as it is in China, China is the global leader in overall energy consumption.  Far too much of that energy is created by burning coal. China is the world's largest consumer - and producer - of coal.  According to the U.S.-China Economic and ...