10% of the worlds population is responsible for 25% of it's pollution,does their inaction show unintelligence?

Question

Come on you Americans....what have you got to say!?

Still no answers....that speaks volumes!

What a pathetic comment from "hidingbehindthisemailaddy's".
I assume you have no children or are simply so selfish you do not care about the world they will live in!
Anyway, not accepting e-mails on here shows how cowardly you are!

bkc99xx is another wise-cracking but unintelligent contributor...no e-mails accepted but happy to spout his mouth off about nothing in particular!...'Cosy' in the knowledge that he won't get any awkward emails!

O.K. 'Roman Soldier', here goes, I DO drive a car...an LPG, low emissions vehicle, I use low energy light bulbs throughout my home and generate as much electricity as I can from a wind turbine and I put out only one third of the garbage I used to as I compost the other two thirds weekly!....Next question?
(No e-mails again I notice).

Answer 1

Does it show unintelligence? No. It shows indifference toward a shared resource.

Watching a news magazine show one night (60 minutes I think) I saw a show on public versus private resources and how people treat them.

The show showed a teacher that devised an ingenious experiment.

The teacher had a Beaker filled with Hershey’s Kisses. Whatever Kisses were left in the Beaker at the end of a given time period would “reproduce” and double for the next time period.

First the teacher handed the Beaker to a small group of students (6 I think). As the Beaker was passed around, it was considered a public resource and anyone at the table could take as many of the Kisses at the wanted. At the end of the time period, the Kisses would reproduce. The Beaker was usually cleaned out before it reached the last student, leaving no Kisses to reproduce.

Next each student was given their own Beaker. This time, the students almost universally “managed” their Kisses to achieve maximum output at reproduction so that they would get the most to eat at the end of the period.

The moral of the story? Ownership was key to making the resource the best it can be. When the resource was shared (like the earth), people took what they could from it as they were afraid someone else would rape the resource if they didn’t.

You see this every day. When you drive along the road and see litter, no one picks it up often enough to make a different. After all, it isn’t theirs. If you drive through a subdivision, you will rarely see that problem because people take care of their own property.

The 10% that generates 25% of the pollution doesn’t care because the earth isn’t theirs to take care of. It is a public resource. There is little immediate incentive to minimize the pollution they create. If this 10% were somehow charged on the amount of pollutants they discharged, I’d be willing to bet you’d see the latest and greatest pollution saving devices in use.

It’s all about ownership (or the lack of).

Answer 2

World pollution research.

You haven't mentioned what country you live in. That makes it difficult for me to compare information. I salute you for your efforts to minimize pollution. I want to own a windmill to reduce the electricity I need from the electric company. Right now that costs too much. I hope the costs of other systems, like solar, are also reduced.

Where are your figures from?

I see a figure from some Kyoto treaty advocates that call carbon dioxide pollution. People have to reach pretty far to call us the largest polluter.

Carbon dioxide is not pollution. A reason that the United States can emit more carbon dioxide is because we have a lot more trees and coal than countries in Europe. The growing and using of wood to build furniture and houses should be encouraged, since that sequesters carbon dioxide for the maximum amount of time.

The United States has stricter anti-pollution laws than Mexico. That is why some companies have moved there. There are other countries with lenient laws concerning pollution.

All of that being said, I agree that the whole world needs to work together to further reduce pollution.

The Kyoto site claims the US is 4.6% of the world's population. What other combination of countries or cities are you using to come up with 10%?

I agree with Slider728 that a system of charging people for cleaning up the pollution they cause would be good. Countries like China and Russia should not be exempt. Some appear to have wanted to use the Kyoto treaty to discriminate unfairly against the United States.

People seem to love to hate the United States. They try to say we are not generous or compassionate. They compare what our government gives in charity against what other countries give. We give more even by that measure, so they divide that figure by the income of the people (since if they just divided it by the number of people the United States still gives more). What they are leaving out are private contributions. I am not saying this to say the United States is better. I'm saying these things to get you United States haters to stop your distortions.

I'm curious why you care about the next generation if you don't believe in God.

Answer 3

I assume you drive a car, use electricity, and probably throw things away in the garbage. Are you unitelligent? Just because most of the world's population is too poor and underdeveloped too pollute the world doesn't mean jack diddly about anyone's intelligence.

Answer 4

Well, actually, you are showing cracks in intelligence as well. We are only 5% of the world's population but produce over 28% of the world's GDP.

So, if we were to cut back too much, more than just us would feel the effects.

Answer 5

too busy getting ready to drive my new suv to the nascar race
sorry
go hug a tree
im sure YOU are no threat to the environment
you bicycle to work and use no electricity from those nasty companies that cause pollution
your hampster is powering your computer as we live and breathe right?

Answer 6

intelligence...maybe. Laziness, selfishness, ignorance...yes. The people who care do as much as they can, but it's not enough to make up for the rest of the people. such a shame...

Answer 7

Greed, selfishness, laziness to make changes, most just don't believe or accept whats happening they are too insulated in thier own little bubble.......

Answer 8

It's all our fault.... you have no contribution whatsoever. I hope you don't hurt yourself patting yourself on the back and doing your superiority dance.