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

Agent009 submitted on 4/16/2008 Official AutoSpies Timestamp: 12:23:49 PM

44 user comments | Category: Misc News | Source: | SOURCE: www.motorauthority.com

China’s rapidly expanding vehicle fleet, increasing manufacturing industry and rising energy demand has pushed the country to the top of the list of world’s biggest polluters, according to research conducted by the University of California.

Researchers also claim previous emissions recordings were probably underestimated and that China could have overtaken the U.S. as early as 2006.

Details of the study are expected to be published in the Journal of Environment Economics and Management later this week. It concludes that China’s pollution levels will easily negate any emissions cuts made in the U.S. and Europe if no action is taken, reports the BBC.




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

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Agent009

"If everything seems under control, you're just not going fast enough."

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User Comments

silver1

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   

EL34

It's the Democrats fault :-/

— EL34 (View Profile)

Posted on 4/16/2008 1:16:12 PM | | Votes: -1   

sholemon

I hate coming in second place.

— sholemon (View Profile)

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

gsh23

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   

EL34

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   

_43LE

You're only saying that because you're anti Asian, we all know that!

Remember, the US never signed the Kyoto accord.

— _43LE (View Profile)

Posted on 4/16/2008 4:39:40 PM | | Votes: 8   

_43LE

If Columbus never made the wrong turn an never ended up in the new world, there would never have been the illegal immigration problem from Europe way back a few centuries ago and the deaths of millions of native Americans.

— _43LE (View Profile)

Posted on 4/16/2008 4:44:38 PM | | Votes: 8   

Htay7500

actually, this is the 1st time I'd ever agree with EL about boycotting olympics. my caption says why.

— Htay7500 (View Profile)

Posted on 4/16/2008 7:10:00 PM | | Votes: 3   

Htay7500

:sig: but I also support 43's statement as well.

— Htay7500 (View Profile)

Posted on 4/16/2008 7:11:15 PM | | Votes: 3   

1995e34

hillary will be right on board, i'm sure.

— 1995e34 (View Profile)

Posted on 4/16/2008 9:28:11 PM | | Votes: 0   

Spoonie_G

kraut_master2,

Your opinions about politics are about as dumb as your opinions about cars.

— Spoonie_G (View Profile)

Posted on 4/16/2008 10:52:30 PM | | Votes: 1   

EL34

43, where did the native Indians come from, they came from China.

And when Columbus found this land there were no boundaries, Government or unified laws.

The Indians skinned animals and wore their hides to stay warm.

The Indians had no beach front homes in Newport Beach with Ferrari's and Bentley's in their driveways.

— EL34 (View Profile)

Posted on 4/17/2008 12:06:12 AM | | Votes: -2   

_43LE

They had a rich culture and were very happy and did not harm the environment. Enough said.

— _43LE (View Profile)

Posted on 4/17/2008 10:56:14 AM | | Votes: 8   

sfox9

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   

SteedPub

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   

GTR35

Actually, the US is still as polluted as when they were No 1; it's China who simply doesn't give a crap and expanded their pollution even greater. So no, it's still not GOOD for the US to be No 2 in this case.

— GTR35 (View Profile)

Posted on 4/16/2008 3:47:54 PM | | Votes: 5   

adamsaf723

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   

abcd

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   

cdoke

The Kyoto protocol exempts China as a developing nation. Compliance with it is horrendous- you have to ask the question; "Should we sign something that is unrealistic in terms of its expectiations, or not sign it knowing that?" the U.S. chose the latter.

— cdoke (View Profile)

Posted on 4/16/2008 6:32:04 PM | | Votes: 2   

abcd

cdoke , china isn`t completely exempt but they are treat "softly" . fact is that usa is only significant country in world that not ratify the kyoto protocol , everyone else accept "inconveniences" .

— abcd (View Profile)

Posted on 4/17/2008 9:37:58 AM | | Votes: 1   

cdoke

You will have to provide some additional information on that. All that I have ever read states that China is a non-Annex I country under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, meaning that it is not bound to any GHG emissions reduction targets set under the Kyoto Protocol.*

*EIA

— cdoke (View Profile)

Posted on 4/18/2008 11:55:12 AM | | Votes: 1   

cdoke

In fact in broader terminology, that China and India have no obligation beyond monitoring and reporting emissions under the Kyoto Protocol.

— cdoke (View Profile)

Posted on 4/18/2008 11:59:54 AM | | Votes: 1   

no1listensanyway

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   

lexusis350

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   

LexusKindaGuy12

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   

KZ258

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   

_43LE

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   

Rupert

I was about to say the same thing. Emissions per person is far more insightful, and the US still leads there.

— Rupert (View Profile)

Posted on 4/16/2008 6:12:28 PM | | Votes: 4   

1995e34

www.nationmaster.com

ALL sorts of statistical data on many aspects of nationhood: polution, economy, crime, labor laws...all sorted by nation. check it out.

— 1995e34 (View Profile)

Posted on 4/16/2008 9:27:23 PM | | Votes: 2   

cdoke

Well, if you assume that the emissions are a function of the economy, then there would be a better metric through which to analyze this- and that would be emissions per $1GDP. The assumption isn't necessarily a bad one as you can prove that energy intensity is directly related to GDP per capita, and it takes only one difficult step (the valuation of pollution) to determine the cursory optimum pollution level.

I will say that it is probably more relavant for China in a direct sense.

— cdoke (View Profile)

Posted on 4/18/2008 12:14:19 PM | | Votes: 1   

lexusrox123

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   

lexusis350

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   

1995e34

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   

EL34

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   

Bored

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   

EL34

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   

_43LE

How so?

— _43LE (View Profile)

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

1995e34

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   

M53R

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   

Steve

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   

huu76

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   

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