Scientists Call Out Rogue Emissions From China at Global Ozone Summit (nature.com) 60
Efforts to curb emissions of a powerful greenhouse gas commonly produced as a by-product of refrigerant manufacture might be falling short, and it seems eastern China is a major culprit. Nature: The hydrofluorocarbon gas, HFC-23, is around 14,700 times as powerful as carbon dioxide at warming the globe and has long been the subject of national and international climate-change mitigation efforts. Those efforts gained new traction nearly a decade ago when China and India -- the world's largest producers of the chemical -- agreed to dial down its emissions. New research, however, confirms that emissions continued to rise in subsequent years, and an analysis of data from atmospheric-monitoring stations suggests that factories in eastern China are responsible for nearly half of the total.
The rogue emissions are one of several air-pollution sources under discussion at the latest meeting of the Montreal Protocol, held in Nairobi, Kenya, this week. Signed in 1987, the Montreal Protocol is generally considered the most effective international environmental treaty in history, having halted the destruction of the ozone layer while also slowing down global warming. But scientists have often played a role, scanning the atmosphere for chemicals, such as ozone-depleting chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), that governments have agreed to phase out. "Science has been instrumental in evaluating compliance under the treaty," says Megan Lickley, a climate scientist at Georgetown University in Washington DC.
The rogue emissions are one of several air-pollution sources under discussion at the latest meeting of the Montreal Protocol, held in Nairobi, Kenya, this week. Signed in 1987, the Montreal Protocol is generally considered the most effective international environmental treaty in history, having halted the destruction of the ozone layer while also slowing down global warming. But scientists have often played a role, scanning the atmosphere for chemicals, such as ozone-depleting chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), that governments have agreed to phase out. "Science has been instrumental in evaluating compliance under the treaty," says Megan Lickley, a climate scientist at Georgetown University in Washington DC.
You mean the South China Atmosphere? (Score:5, Funny)
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wat [bloomberg.com]
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Champion polluter generally (Score:2)
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This is all fake. China SIGNED AGGREEMENTS! Their diplomats got together with our diplomats and promised to stop doing this. So it's a solved problem and this story is just more sinophobia and hating on China.
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The UN will draw a line in the sand. Cross it and they shall draw another.
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why care about invisible gases?
Seen photos of Beijing smog? It's not all gases, and the results aren't invisible. You can see the pollution in the air.
Re: Champion polluter generally (Score:1)
I live in Beijing and the pollution has reduced significantly over the past several years. So, I think that is a poor example.
Also, it's the pollution you can't see that is the bigger problem.
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You're right about Beijing, it's not even in the top 50 most polluted Chinese cities. https://www.iqair.com/world-most-polluted-cities?continent=59af92b13e70001c1bd78e53&country=E9SBuvnZmqijthYog&state=&sort=-rank&page=1&perPage=50&cities= [iqair.com]
That's not to say there aren't some very terrible places to live in China. The Chinese don't care about Chinese dying prematurely to pollution.
For the Chinese shills who will no doubt reply. Here's the worst US cities. https://www.iqair.com/worl [iqair.com]
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If what you mean is the PM2.5 is the worst particulate stuff to breathe, yeah that's true. But any time there's enough pollution in the air to see, you're gonna have a bad time
Re: Champion polluter generally (Score:1)
*Apparently* someone needs to provide some references.
Re: Champion polluter generally (Score:1)
China (Score:2)
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The US can't claim to not be a problem when it generates more pollution per capita than China.
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I see what you are trying to say, but you got it backward though.
The earth doesn't care about countries, or the lines in the sand the humans decided to draw and that we decided to call "borders". It only cares about global GHG emitted (usually expressed in terms of CO2-equivalent). Add to that the fact that every human being life is equal (well, if you don't agree to that, then you basically endorse slavery), and then you understand that it doesn't matter if China is emitting more than the US. What matters
Re: China (Score:1)
However, when we consider the ability to actually do something about the problem, borders *do* matter.
The political system in China enables the government there to do more about the problem than in western style democracies because they don't need to pander (as much) to public opinion or corporate lobbying.
So, it's actually a good thing it's happening in China rather than where their products are exported.
Well, it would be if the Chinese government would do something about it. They generally produce realist
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The US can't claim to not be a problem when it generates more pollution per capita than China.
I'd like to see some sources on that. I have little doubt that the USA produces more CO2 per capita than China but I have my doubts on this applying to plastics in the seas, or sulfur and NOx in the air. China certainly produces plenty of soot and smog, with a good sized portion of the air pollution in California being traceable back to China. CO2 emissions are a problem but I'd hardly call something necessary to sustain life on the planet as pollution.
Pollution from the USA is a problem and I blame a la
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Between China, India, and to a lesser extent the Philippines and Indonesia, that's the majority of the world's air and water pollution problems. Cleaning up these four countries would go a long way towards improving the world's water quality and maybe even reverse climate change.
Can't call them rogue (Score:2)
"Rogue" implies they were unplanned, China never actually planned to meet emission goals they promised they would.
Funny that we are over here in the west trying to eke out 1% CO2 improvements when it's all irrelevant in the face of whatever China and other third world countries do. Emission reduction on any significant scale is entirely up to them now.
Re: Can't call them rogue (Score:1)
Nonsense. They Chinese are exceeding their plans.
"Rogue" (Score:2)
That's ridiculous to draw light to, considering China's Co2 emissions alone exceed those of the entire western hemisphere and Europe combined... they've not slowed one bit in their output, but all the attention seems to be on how much the US is producing...
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The US is producing more per capita than anyone else, so is less efficient than China. It'll be tough to get China on board with greater efficiencies if the US can't be... bothered to.
Not sure where you are getting that information, but according to the most recent EDGAR data (https://edgar.jrc.ec.europa.eu) the US is 17th per capita in GHG emissions.
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The same location most climate alarmism comes from.
*waves hands around in the air*
Re: "Rogue" (Score:2)
Because the focus is on who to blame, not on the solution. That's why "per capita" and historical emissions are important.
If we focus on solving the problem, then what control the governments have and that they extert, is the important factor.
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Because the focus is on who to blame, not on the solution
well, yes, but the subthread started out blaming china without further proposition, and it was pointed out that the us is in no position to blame.
now, working towards a solution, it should go without saying that it has to be a fair one in which per capita emissions become a crucial parameter and some extra homework for the us.
ofc who am i kidding, this is never going to be fair, we all know that.
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The US is producing more per capita than anyone else, so is less efficient than China. It'll be tough to get China on board with greater efficiencies if the US can't be... bothered to.
Americans don't really want to live like Chinese or Indians. Can't really blame them, I would not want to either.
Re: "Rogue" (Score:1)
Chinese people live very nicely, on the whole, and they largely don't want to live like many Americans do.
Life in China is very safe and in many places very modern, much more so than in the USA.
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Chinese people live very nicely, on the whole, and they largely don't want to live like many Americans do. Life in China is very safe and in many places very modern, much more so than in the USA.
Some small number of Chinese people live very nicely to be sure. Modern is rather a rather meaningless metric, behind the great wall and all.
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China and India (Score:1)
Are major problems. There's no doubt about it. And they're going to claim (not unreasonably) that the West is richer and more advanced so can afford to put solutions into place. Which the West certainly doesn't always do. It's also not unreasonable for China and India to insist on not being held back, to be allowed to become as advanced as the West.
Although China's less likely to be vocal about it than India, as China certainly has caught up in a few areas.
The obvious solution is to try and do a deal. The W
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It's also not unreasonable for China and India to insist on not being held back, to be allowed to become as advanced as the West.
They have so many more people though, if they follow the same recipe we did (which is what they are doing) then they will drown in their own pollution before they get there, and that is unreasonable.
I agree with your comment, but with the above caveat...
Re: China and India (Score:1)
China, at least, has its own nuclear technologies, and is surpassing those of western countries', where they are bogged down in regulation, politics, or have banned them altogether.
Building them fast enough is a problem, and that is something no western country can help with since China leads the world in that area.
The story will be buried in 3... 2... 1... (Score:2, Troll)
Can't have a story like this get any traction anywhere because the US needs to be blamed for everything.
Given China is the largest manufacturer (Score:2)
Text him on spyhackelite @gmail com (Score:1)
This will continue until the west changes course (Score:2)
The ONLY way to stop this is for the west to slowly increase a tax rate on goods/services based on where the worst parts comes from.
However, instead of looking at levels (other than a bottom level that EVERY NATION/State needs to be at), look at directions for 2 years running.
While the important ones are GHG, obviously this IS a GHG (one of the worst) and needs to be considered a tax on parts/service.
This is t