Swarzenigwe said today, that the USA emits the most green house gases. Do the American people agree with him?

Question

On tonight's news there was film of Arnie, addressing cameras, saying that his State, "would be a leader in the fight against greenhouse gases." He would, "do all in his power, whatever it took, to reduce emissions significantly". He said that, "due to scientific research, global warming, had proved to be a reality and could not now be disputed. Emissions from cars, industry and other sources within the state had to be cut substantially. They will be the most proactive, in the fight against greenhouse gases, unlike the U.S. Government."

Source BBC News.

Have you seen any of this on your American TV, or newspapers?

Answer 1

I can hardly believe the ignorance displayed here in these answers.

How many of you have actually watched Al Gore's movie? How many of you have actually bothered to independently research some of the information presented in the film. Well, I have.

Yes, it is true that the US is 5% of the world population and accounts for 25% of green house emissions.

If you examine publications in peer-reviewed scientific journals, yes, there is VERY little controversy the green house gases are responsible for global warming and yes, there is very little controversy in the scientific community that global warming is a disaster of catastrophic proportions. Then why is there controversy in the popular press? Because the press is controlled by wealthy interests that care more about making money than the eventual deaths of millions of people. Because if you have wealth, you will be able to escape the effects of global warming in the short term.

To answer your question, I think many American people are in denial and confused about this. Many of us are working to get people here to wake up and face the music, but, sadly, I fear it will be a case too little, too late.

Answer 2

1) We may emit the most CO2, but we also have a pretty large CO2 sink. Net contribution may not be the largest.

2) There remains no direct, tangible proof that human-generated CO2 emissions are the proximate cause of the present warming period. It's been warmer before, for multi-century periods within and before human history, at times when we know atmospheric CO2 levels to have been lower. We have increased CO2 levels by 30% since 1800 but in proportion to the atmosphere the 90 ppm increase is small - ppm stands for parts per million, which means that 1/11,000th of the atmosphere that wasn't CO2 in 1800 is now. 1/11,000th.

We are told that "unprecedented" warming is causing Alpine glaciers to melt. This "unprecedented" warming is revealing passes that were crossed by traders during Medieval times, Roman times and earlier, including some periods when the Alps were ice free and the Alpine tree line was 300 feet higher than it is today.....

......I guess Al Gore's definition of "unprecedented" differs from most people's.

Answer 3

I'd like to say it was all over the news. Unfortunately, I have only caught a short blurb on TV. I'm sure if I had more than public channels I would have heard more of what was said during his speach. Public television doesn't typically admit it, but I do believe the USA is the biggest contributor to global warming. I'm crossing my fingers that he will follow through with this promise. We all know that the politicians say what they think the public wants to hear only to drop the ball later on. Of course, this is only MY opinion.

Answer 4

The Americans are the biggest energy users in the world per capita. Although Americans comprise only 5%of the world population, America emits 25% of the world's greenhouse gas. Another reason for the term: "The ugly Americans".

Answer 5

It's true, we use a lot of energy. We also produce the most as well. The proper measure should be the energy used or greenhouse gases emitted per unit of GDP.

Answer 6

In his book, Michael Creighton (sp) noted that the modern global warming movement was reminescent of the popular theory back in teh early part of the 20 century, Eugenics. Hitler took that theory to the ultimate and started ridding the world of the inferior races. Today the new popular theory, global warming, is again being accepted whole heartedly by another Austrian, Arnold. What a shocker. What an idiot. Is it that they want so badly to be taken seriously as a smart person that they so willingly follow the latest crazes like a blind sheep. Baaaah

Answer 7

It doesn't matter if the people agree, its a fact. US citizens use several times the energy per person that other developed countries do. The society is dangerously addicted to energy and when the crunch comes you'll see riots at the gas stations as prices soar.

Answer 8

i agree with what was said i don't know about the rest of america but also on discovery atlas: china, a show shown on the discovery channel also said that china is soon to surpass the americans in energy consumption and that we will need another planet earth to sustain just china's booming population and ecomony alone, so i don't think american's are just to blame, honestly the world hates the US and they need a scapegoat so we take the blame but what the hay we have enough nukes to destoy all the finger pointers they need to look in the mirror and realize that they too have a hand in the matter and not just americans

Answer 9

Yes, and we are soon expecting our Arnie to appear in his commando jackets whilst carrying a multitude of weapons, and taking retribution on all smoking chimneys!! Atterboy!

Answer 10

Not sure about this.
I just read The United Arab Emirates had a worse record than our own.