Copenhagen, pi55ing in the wind?

[R1Geezer]

Is this a waste of time bearing in mind that 90% of China's power comes from coal and they have enough for 100's of years and are unlikely to stop burning it and will therefore more than compensate for any emmissions savings the rest of us make?

[jake-the-peg]

China has agreed a reduction in CO2 of 40-45% of 2005 levels

http://www.cemweek.co...co2-reduction-by-2020

[R1Geezer]

yes jake but how are they realistically going to achieve that? Presumably they'll have to start building Nuclear power stations wholesale!

[jake-the-peg]

There are a number of ways and yes building nuclear power stations will probably be pretty important.

But yours is a council of dispai

"Can't do it - won't try"

[Sqad]

jake. I am not sure of these facts but.........I think that the 2005 levels of CO2 were higher than any of the civilised countries, so reducing them by just under 50% is no big deal in the overall state of worldwide CO2 values.

R!Geezer has a point....saying one thing and doing it are two different things.

[youngmafbog]

Still we bang on about humans causing it. Just what if, heaven forbid, it is Mother Nature on the change. Although most pinkos would hate to be told it you cannot control Mother Nautre, all the laws in the world wont do that.

Our problem is Population 6 billion and rising. Thats what should be tackled, fossil fuel usage would then drop as a consequence anyway.

[jno]

which ones do you plan to kill, youngmafbog? Just Labour voters?

[anotheoldgit]

No jno,

The simple answer is to educate some people into realising what causes pregnancies.

[jno]

well, China has led the world in imposing a one-child policy

[jake-the-peg]

the evidence is that although the majority is natural human production pushes the total produced above what can be absorbed in "sinks"

It's therefore pointless to argue whether man's extra is to blame - we can't reduce the natural - we can reduce the human amount.

However YMB is fundamentally right about human population growth being a major threat and it needs to be tackled as well.

The other side of the coin is developing countries saying "why should we tell our people they can't have children when Americans and Europeans are responsible for so much carbon per head?"

Some agreement must be reached - this is what people are trying to do at Copenhagen

[123everton]

It's not that there's too many people on the earth, it's just that there's too many of the wrong kind of people on the earth, similarly, look at these uppity fellows in the developing world who do they think they are?
Developing infrastructure and wanting to create wealth and a standard of living something akin to our own, I mean, really, they ought to know their place by now.
I advise and defy anyone to go to China and not be amazed, especially when you look at the rapidity and cohesiveness of it's growth.

[jno]

that's the thing, 123everton, the west nagged them for years to stop being so primitive and to start behaving more like an industrialised commercial economy. So now they have. Be careful what you wish for, eh?