Hey, Rob. I don’t know if I’ve commented on any of your posts yet. I just have a couple of points to make.

The first is about the difference between weather and climate. I posted on this subject on my blog here. You may already know this, but I just wanted to point out that the recent winter storms were weather events. They are not an indicator of the direction of our climate. Nor will a warmer climate result in warmer winters and less snow. Some actually estimate that the opposite may happen.

My other point has to do with yours and crosspatch’s statements on Kyoto:

For the record, I would have no problem with Kyoto if it did not exempt most of developing Asia.

I am very encouraged to see you say this. I actually understand people’s reservations about Kyoto from this perspective. Many are already wary of it because they think that it could ruin our economy. Then, it just lets a huge Communist country off the hook. I know on its face this looks bad. However, there is an explanation.

There are actually two explanations. First, China is a developing country, like you said, which means it is not and has not been developed in the past, while many other countries were pumping GHGs into the atmosphere already. Second is that China has an enormous population. So, when you take this into account, their emissions are relatively low. They rank #91 in the world in per capita emissions. It may seem backwards to view it that way, but imagine you had a country the size of all of Europe and Asia. It would contain about half the world’s population. Would you expect that country to reduce its total emissions to a level similar to that of other countries? Surely not. The better metric would be per capita emissions. I think this is the same with China.

So, while China is growing, its contribution to the existing GHGs in the atmosphere is minimal, and when considering per capita emissions, its current numbers are not that high either. It just looks like a such a problem because it is so big and so populated. Also, the Kyoto Protocol lasts until 2012, not forever. So after that point, a different agreement can always be reached that would include countries like China and India.

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An interesting point I heard on the radio in the past couple of weeks was that people just don’t appreciate how fast China’s CO2 emissions are growing … and they are exempt from Kyoto. The man on the radio said that if we were to completely shut off ALL CO2 emissions in the entire UK … and I mean shutting off all power plants, all cars, all planes … EVERYTHING … China would make up the difference in 13 months. China’s CO2 emissions are growing at a rate where they ADD the equivalent of the entire UK’s CO2 output every 13 months.

That means that banning all incandescent bulbs and replacing them with fluorescent is like spitting into a fire hydrant. It isn’t going to amount to a pinch of owl scat in the overall growth of CO2. In fact, within 24 months, China will surpass the US as the world’s number one CO2 emitter. And they will still be exempt from international CO2 emission agreements.

So let me see if I get this straight … it is of vital importance that the US and Europe greatly reduce their CO2 to keep the ice from melting but China, India, and Brazil’s emissions growth poses no hazard?

What a crock.

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