I don't care what skeptics say

China is well ahead in the total CO2 emissions race, and the fact that their per capita emissions are lower than developed countries is primarily a result of them having a huge population problem, too.

No, I'm not being nice to China.  The country is an environmental catastrophe, with disasters in-the-waiting. Great that their economy is keeping the world economy afloat, but at the cost of uncalculable environmental and resource withdrawals.  They epitomize the saying that if we (as humanity) live like there's no tomorrow, we aren't likely to have one.  More accurately, our "tomorrows" are going to be less livable than our present-day.   Yes, this is morose pessimistic moping.  But the alternative is to be optimistic in the face of the actual data, which if one is realistic, is impossible.

So I present two articles with excerpts, to illustrate my fundamental gloomy outlook.


2011 global emissions reach record, led by China

CO2 emissions rose by 3.2 percent last year to 31.6 billion tonnes, preliminary estimates from the Paris-based IEA showed.

China, the world's biggest emitter of CO2, made the largest contribution to the global rise, its emissions increasing by 9.3 percent, the body said, driven mainly by higher coal use.

"When I look at this data, the trend is perfectly in line with a temperature increase of 6 degrees Celsius (by 2050), which would have devastating consequences for the planet," Fatih Birol, IEA's chief economist told Reuters.

UN climate conference in Bonn reaches agreement after week-long deadlock

 Some countries also look set to miss their emissions cut targets for 2020, putting the world on a dangerous trajectory towards a rise in global average temperature of 3.5 degree Celsius, research showed on Thursday.

"The majority of countries want to move forwards faster but..a relatively small group is holding up what the rest of the room wants," said the European Union's chief negotiator Artur Runge-Metzger.

Only six months remain before the Doha meeting. Some nations want extra negotiating sessions before then but between 4.4 million euros and 4.8 million euros of funding will have to be pledged by countries by Monday to guarantee that, Figueres said.

Which I consider unlikely.  I know, I'm too gloomy.

So find something to cheer me up about this.