If climate change is caused by us and climate change is bad, why aren't we reducing emissions?

Question

Instead it's all about carbon credits and encouraging reduction.
If the problem is as bad as has been made out the last 20+ years then why have emissions risen globally? They've risen considerably since Kyoto.

Surely if it is such a problem then global emissions should have been reduced by now, not charging someone for the extra carbon they use. It should be illegal to clear-fell forest to make way for farms or houses.

Somehow paying for the rights to increase the carbon footprint helps the environment?
It's nonsense, people are getting richer off this, carbon footprints increase globally, emisssions increase globally.
So I wonder if this climate change is true like some people say, why aren't we seeing a reduction instead of being told if we pay more things will get better?

Answer 1

You raise a very valid point. Carbon credits are just a form of Indulgences that were popular in the Catholic Church in the Middle Ages. Martin Luther was opposed to this practice.



We in the UK could nuke the entire country and the savings in CO2 emissions would not be noticed. The upcoming countries would have cancelled out any benefit inside a few weeks. If we really are serious about this then China and India need to be stopped now.



The fact that this is not on anyone's agenda proves to me that this is not a planetary crisis but something else. Just follow the money.



The scare is based on science, I agree, but think why. The politicians and businessmen who are benefitting can blame someone else when it all goes pear-shaped. Everyone knows that Joe Public can't tell a floorboard from a Planck constant so they are easily duped. The environmental organisations have been taken over at a high level by political operators. They just spotted a vulnerable power base and systematically infiltrated it.



If we need to reduce emissions the first thing that will happen is that we will redefine what an emission is. After that, our emissions will already be lower. This is how the unemployment figures, for instance, are managed.



The main problem, though, is that nothing strange is happening to the climate in spite of all assertions to the contrary. Nothing that hasn't happened before is happening now. Many extreme events that did happen before are not happening now. This just relies on people's lack of historical knowledge.

Answer 2

Hey it is not that simple, the world needs energy the demand is increasing all the time, the U.S. by it's use of fracking gas has actually reduced emissions, however China India and other developing countries are increasing theirs and how can we blame them, they have every right to prosperity as the western nations, global agreements on emissions are not going to happen, not until we are all on a equal footing.

Of course there is always nuclear, but it has a bad image and politicians shy away from it, France however supplies 70% of it's electricity with nuclear and exports a lot to other countries, so it can be done.

However the good news is that CO2 does not have much effect on our climate, temperatures have not risen for 18yrs, and who says a little more warmth would not be good for us.

Answer 3

It's because people are looking for excuses to continue driving SUVs and to have accidents in their pants every time toilets back up at nuclear power plants. Excuses include



1. Global warming denialism

2. Geoengineering

3. Buying carbon credits

4. Making fuel from food

5. Pointing fingers at Alberta's oil sands

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOR38552MJA



The solution to global warming is to use clean energy sources, such as solar, hydro and nuclear power.

Answer 4

That question would better be asked directly to people like President Obama, who spews a thousand times more CO2 in one Golf outing than you or I do in a year. The same goes for people like Al Gore and people of the United Nations.



There many ways we could conserve energy without changing laws or increasing taxes but the goal is taxes and tyranny. Actions speak louder than words and at this time the government's actions show they don't consider the environment a problem.

Answer 5

Why isn't Al Gore reducing emissions??

Answer 6

Endless "conservative" morons with endless Global Warming denial lies (written for them by fake "scientists") have effectively stopped us from actually doing anything.



Again the Billionaires win - and they get to pollute right down to the point where we begin to starve.



We're not going to pull this one out of the fire.... it's too late probably - and people are too stupid.

Answer 7

Pretty much the same reason that tobacco is still legal and coal miners still get black lung.

Answer 8

Stop burping and breaking wind.

Answer 9

greed and deniers