[quote=SD Realtor]Why can’t all countries implement the same plan?[/quote]
I don’t disagree with you. That would be great. But look at it from their perspective. The US has been the largest per-capita emitter of CO2 since the Industrial Revolution. Much of our dominance in the world can be attributed to that. Now that we’ve solidified our dominance at the expense of the environment, do we really have the right to turn around and require that everyone else stop their CO2-fueled growth?
Or should we maybe invest and develop the next generation of technology that can fuel growth more efficiently and cleanly (and then sell it to growing nations to make a nice profit on the side)? Why not look at it like an investment rather than a burden? Like any technology, it requires early adopters who are willing to purchase expensive, unproven technology in order to fuel the next round of improvements. Remember when cell phones were $15,000? That’s a ridiculous price, but if it weren’t for those wasteful idiodic people who paid that much for their phones back then, we wouldn’t have the free/throwaway phones we have now. The US is in a position to be an early adopter of these new technologies, which will help drive prices down and increase innovation. And if we’re smart, we’ll own these technologies. If not, who will? It’s inevitable that they are coming. Might as well try to make a little money from them.
Then guess what happens when China/India come crawling to us to help clean up their nasty environment? “Oh, we have these clean power plants we can sell you.. want to buy a couple or a hundred or a thousand? We’ve also developed these solar panels that you can install on remote farmers’ roofs to bring them power and improve their standard of living. Oh, and we have these cars that emit no nasty crap into your air, so if you want to have the Olympics in your city you won’t have to worry about athletes complaining about how polluted your air is.”
This is an issue that we have to think long-term on.
