Date: 2025-08-21 Page is: DBtxt003.php txt00006755
Environmental Degradation
Carbon Emissions
Burgess critique of a powerful inforgraphic image
Burgess COMMENTARY
Peter Burgess
This image is very convenient ... it suggests that China and the US are at about the same level of emissions.
A better presentation would show that the United States has emissions of CO2 of 17.2 tons per year per capita while China has an equivalent level of emissions of 5.2 tons.
Another fact is that the United States has been polluting at this rate for the best part of a hundred years, while China has been doing it for something like 10 to 20 years.
China seems to be working to address its pollution problems by investing heavily in better technology, the United States seems to be committed to even more rapid consumption of fossil fuels and the associated emissions.