If China refuses decrease their CO2 emmissions, what will happen?

Question

I have a bonus question too (that didn't get posted here):

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AurW8jidh6bHS_uRit1Z9WDsy6IX;_ylv=3?qid=20080822143020AA8MYEy

Answer 1

First of all, China is a rapidly emerging economy.  Invest all of your money there. China will soon pass the US as the biggest polluter on the planet, and with 1.3 billion people will far surpass the US emissions by many megatons of emissions per year. This is the part of the global warming equation that Al Gore and the Greens all downplay, as there is not much we can do about it.  China does what they want, and they are not a very compassionate human rights oriented nation.  Are we going to tell China they have to put very expensive CO2 scrubbers on the smokestacks of their many Coal Fired Power plants?  Why should they?  Or we would do what - stop all of our manufacturing there?  Why do you think there is so much air pollution in Bejing?

Mark my words, my friend.  You only see the tip of the iceburg.

Answer 2

I don't think we should ask a country to do something we are unwilling to do ourselves. China may be producing more CO2 than we are, but they are also 4 times the population. So in other words the average per person CO2 emissions for the US is the same as for 4 Chinese. China has laws to help with population control as well, what are we doing?

If you look at why China's emissions are on the rise you will see that there is a huge migration of people leaving farming and rural lives to move to the cities. They are moving for manufacturing jobs, jobs that used to be in the US, but the environmental laws in China make it easier to manufacture all those cheap disposable items we Americans love so much.

So, we are ultimately responsible for the CO2 emissions in China. If you truely care about the air quality, stop buying cheap stuff made in China. There is a reason there have been so many safety recalls for items made in China, they have very limited environemental laws.  

Answer 3

Plants in that area of the world will thrive.  They need CO2.

Answer 4

It is likely that there are economically feasible ways to remove carbon dioxide from the air, so it does not necessarily have to be removed at the source.

Answer 5

I'm more worried about what will happen if the USA refuses to decrease their CO2 emissions!

Answer 6

"Nature will not be denied" someone said, or "you can't fool with Mother Nature!".

China includes a large area that will benefit from the "Three Gorges" Dam, with the world's largest lake. But, it also includes vast regions that will share with Russia the first blunt, major, blow from Global Warming. About 1.5 Billion people will run out of water for crops and will have to be moved out before they starve to death. In a few years, neither Russia nor China will be again what they are now.

When even the morons of the world begin to wonder what's happening? The UN, if Sen. Obama is elected and Al Gore has a voice, like he promised, the UN will quickly begin to find a consensus on the penalties for nations that will not cut back their Carbon Emission and are, therefore, at war with humanity.

We are talking survival of the human race.

At a minimum, there will be trade penalties to nations that buy products from those criminal countries.

After this is in place, nations will reconcider and will decide to do their part. Some will cheat, of course, but the ability of satellites to detect sources of specific gases is improving all the time.

The heat source from a powerplant would be easy to detect, the high concentration of water vapor, from a cooling tower, is no problem.

In the Vietnam War we had quiet airplanes that could detect a single fire to boil tea for a few soldiers. We can do the same from greater altitudes now.

In short, as the evidence mounts the screws will tighten and, if necessary, total bans imposed, even if a population suffers.

Would we kill a nation to save the world? That is not being considered but it may be s subject of UN study in ten or twenty years, after millions die in the low lands in Bangladesh and starve in southeast Russia. Even the most charitable will admit: "they have no right to kill the whole human race!"

Of course, there will never be a war against any nation, that would only accelerated Global Warming -like the Iraq War is doing now.

Answer 7

Quite likely war, as desperate countries being ruined by global warming's impacts, fight back.

But it's not going to happen.  It's dawned on China that destroying the world's economy with global warming will not be good for business.

EDIT - It won't be the poor countries who would be desperate, it would be us, England, Australia, etc.  Biut, as I say, it won't happen.

Answer 8

Most of you ignore or do not understand simple facts, so let me give them to you before answering the question.

China has higher emissions for the following reasons;

- a population 4x higher than the US

- a growth achieved faster than most countries during their industrialization phase

- a strong need for basic materials for infrastructures

* steel

* cement

* glass

Note that the demand for these materials is lower in the US since infrastructures such as buildings, roads and bridges already exist.

Also note that the US has already so much steel installed that just recycling the existing one covers 60% of the demand.

China has also a much more coal intensive electricity which is limited by the availability of other resources (they would for sure be glad to exchange their territory with the US one).

Also interesting to know: 1/3rd of the CO2 emissions are the result of exports which themselves are driven by the demand for goods, mostly in developed countries...

China WILL NOT become wealther per capita than the US as it is very much resource constrained.

China also is one of the most exposed to global warming (and pollution) and has no interest in having all its north-east turn into a desert.

Answer 9

I am amused by Bob's answer.  The poor countries will fight back.  I wonder just how those starving poor are going to fight us with.  I envision a hungry hoard bearing forks.  Sorry, I can laugh because I find the whole idea so utterly rediculous.  

It might make China more likely to attack Taiwan.  Currently, the Chinese government isn't our friend.  They consider us an enemy.  The thing is, the wealthier China is, the less menacing it will become. I have been watching the Olympics and they love the Americans.  Kobe Briant is a rock star.  It is good to have a prosperous China.  Remember trade is good for both parties or it won't exist.  Those that fret over trade have bought into isolationist ideas that have no bearing on the real world.

Answer 10

China will produce all the goods that we are no longer allowed to produce in the United States.  We will buy everything from China, pollution will not be reduced, the US economy will be ruined.

We are already getting close to that, thanks to Gore and his scheming leftist buddies who want to make China the world's top superpower.  What the Kyoto Protocol failed to achieve, they are accomplishing through 'carbon caps'.