Global Emissions

Global emissions continue to rise, and there is nothing that can be done about it. That's because two regions are developing fast and they're not going to give up their futures for everyone else, and nor should they.

Here's a couple of graphs to illustrate, the first being global emissions of carbon dioxide worldwide:

Emissions have steadily increased, becoming steeper exponentially. The only small downticks are when there is a recession, and other exceptional events.

Then, let's look at how these emissions appear when broken down by region:

If we study these regions carefully, we quickly see that China and the rest of Asia (excluding China and India) account for most of the increase. But, I'd suggest not getting too proud of yourselves in Europe or North America as their reductions I suspect are largely due to offshoring, or moving production to Asia and China. 

So, emitters that matter are: China, Asia (excluding China and India), North America, and Europe.

What can be done? Well, consume less would be a start, and when that's done, use civil engineering, soil science and the like to deal with the changes occurring.

Blaming tourists and giving them a guilt trip over their carbon miles is simply a deflection at best, or at worst it is sending consumers in a direction whereby they're fleeced by unscrupulous businesses. Likewise, greenwashing by companies is all PR, nothing more than that. 

Why can nothing be done? Does any sane individual think more than two billion people will change their behaviour when that behaviour is counter to their own progress? Yeah, give it up, stop with the delusions.