U.S. Falls To Number Two As Biggest World Polluter

Thanks to all those U.S. jobs they move over to China & India, guess it wasn't such a bad ideal after all....j/k

— silver1 (View Profile)

Posted on 4/16/2008 12:43:07 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: -3   

I hate coming in second place.

— sholemon (View Profile)

Posted on 4/16/2008 12:58:17 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: 7   

well that sucks. the jet stream will be tossing their crap over to us.

— gsh23 (View Profile)

Posted on 4/16/2008 1:10:24 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: 6   

China doesn't give a damn what the spew into the air.

They're the worlds biggest spewer :-(

If China doesn't fly right then we'll have all of our tinkertoys built in Mexico, thus ending the illegal immigration problemo.

Boycott the 2008 Beijing Olympics :-)

— EL34 (View Profile)

Posted on 4/16/2008 1:15:11 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: -1   

Here is an interesting site regarding this issue http://www.pbs.org/kcet/globalwatch/opinions_ep5.html

— sfox9 (View Profile)

Posted on 4/16/2008 2:17:53 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: 1   

GOOD. Now maybe the do-gooders of the world will go after the real polluters.

— SteedPub (View Profile)

Posted on 4/16/2008 2:33:02 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: -2   

They do everything big over there. Biggest population. Most factories. Most people that smoke cigarettes. Now they are have the most pollution. It's quite obvious they are compensating for little dingalings.

— adamsaf723 (View Profile)

Posted on 4/16/2008 3:19:55 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: 2   

thanks to usa doesn`t signature kioto treaty china would say : why can`t we pollute when usa can .

— abcd (View Profile)

Posted on 4/16/2008 3:45:29 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: 3   

Good that will keep those damn Euros who have nothing else to do but protest and bitch about the US, off our backs for a few months

— no1listensanyway (View Profile)

Posted on 4/16/2008 4:01:46 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: 2   

I don't believe it. India's got to be #2.

— lexusis350 (View Profile)

Posted on 4/16/2008 4:21:17 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: 6   

the US doesnt have as many factories but we have a unbelievable amount of cars.

China just has factory after factory. Its "easy" to make factories more efficient, but how are you gonna remove all the cars on the road? both countries need to do something quick

— LexusKindaGuy12 (View Profile)

Posted on 4/16/2008 4:31:37 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: 5   

hey that looks like LA in that pic ;)

— KZ258 (View Profile)

Posted on 4/16/2008 4:35:55 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: 3   

I wonder what the rankings are in terms of per capita pollution levels?

Remember, China just passed the US, but they have 1.3 billion people compared to the 300 million in the US. If China just passed the US then, per person, the US pollutes about 4X as much!

— _43LE (View Profile)

Posted on 4/16/2008 4:37:19 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: 7   

AL gore has his "work" cut out for him, doesnt he? ;) LOL

— lexusrox123 (View Profile)

Posted on 4/16/2008 6:29:21 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: 1   

You also have to remember that the US is also a lot bigger than the average country and a lot more technological than most others.

— lexusis350 (View Profile)

Posted on 4/16/2008 8:16:25 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: 1   

not that i have much sympathy for china, but they do happen to have almost 5 times as many people as the united states do. let's put this into perspective a bit.

china is WAY down on the ladder in terms per capita pollution, particularly co2. but they have utterly poisoned their water like it was going out of fashion.

in their defense, it is not a case of a bunch of selfish individuals claiming "it's a free country, don't tread on me, i can do whatever i want, you're not my boss". instead it's a combination of overpopulation and a screwy government.

the notion that the u.s. has nothing to worry about because "china does worse" is idiotic, AT BEST.

the united states has the technology to EXPORT to china (which we hardly use ourselves) that would help the situation...err, situations.

how would the global environmental and economic outlook be if the united states geared R&D away from the better bombs to better energy production?

india and china are rising economic powers and both have enormous populations, meaning their energy future will require state of the art technology to thrive. this is a money making opportunity like nobody has ever seen.

did you know the u.s. produces more nuclear power than france, as well as more geothermal power than iceland? ...i know, iceland is much smaller of a nation.

well, that's my rant for today...maybe.

— 1995e34 (View Profile)

Posted on 4/16/2008 9:22:21 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: 3   

In fact, China has banned all smoking in Beijing now and during the Olympics.

They've got to get that air cleaned by the time the athletes get there ;-)

— EL34 (View Profile)

Posted on 4/17/2008 12:00:16 AM | reply to this comment | Votes: 1   

the good news is that we will all be dead by the time this becomes terminal.
the bad news is that while we are all alive, it's unlikely we will ever make things right.

— Bored (View Profile)

Posted on 4/17/2008 12:07:08 AM | reply to this comment | Votes: 1   

In California, all cars have smog devices that help clean the air.

Does your state have them?

The air in Los Angeles used to be awful and now it's minty fresh :-)

Of course the smog devices rob about 5 horses from the engine.

— EL34 (View Profile)

Posted on 4/17/2008 12:14:10 AM | reply to this comment | Votes: 1   

How so?

— _43LE (View Profile)

Posted on 4/17/2008 1:31:14 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: 1   

B. Arthur invade china? the woman is 85 years old, c'mon buddy.

— 1995e34 (View Profile)

Posted on 4/18/2008 12:02:35 AM | reply to this comment | Votes: 1   

Well considering almost everything any of us has is made in China, I'm not surprised. You would be surprised to know that many huge companies have factories in China, and if we try to eliminate chinese stuff, we wont have anything left.

— M53R (View Profile)

Posted on 4/17/2008 3:53:20 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: 1   

C'mon America! Where's that competitive spirit? Are you gonna let the Chinese win? ;-)

— Steve (View Profile)

Posted on 4/17/2008 6:51:59 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: 1   

But the US will always be #1 in our hearts since its much easier and more fashionable to protest against the US.

Gotta love how China wants to be seen as a superpower yet wants to be considered developing when it comes to Kyoto, and the Europeans are all too happy to look away because bashing Uncle Sam gets you more votes.

China is still irrelevant for the most part, they can't even keep the world out of an economic slowdown (I guess 1 trillion or two in reserves isn't as much money as they thought). Where's all this demand that economists have wetdreams about?

krautmaster,
You don't mean Google and Yahoo who are helping China round up dissidents do you?
Did Native American's rich culture include tax free casinos?

Please, if the Euronuts really cared about the environment, they'd be moving towards burning less oil, not more and then trying to figure out how to hide the diesel fumes.

"China, along with the UN, also insists rich countries with high per capita levels of pollution must cut emissions first, and help poorer countries to invest in clean technology."
Yup, we know, China got it bad (although, they are the self-proclaimed next superpower that's still dependent on the real superpower for demand of its crap).

M53R,
There's no shortage of slave labour, if China doesn't make it, Mexico, India, anyone else will. Why do you think China suppresses its currency? Easy come, easy go.

What we need is a war with China. Taiwan right before the Olympics would suffice.
I'd like to see Wal-Mart "every day low price" themselves out of that one.

— huu76 (View Profile)

Posted on 4/19/2008 12:32:45 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: 1