7 thoughts on “Nicki Haley on Climate: Blame Canada..er, China – Yeah, That’s the Ticket”
I always feel a little conflicted when deniers in the United States yammer about China and India.
My fundamental answer is: every path to carbon neutrality includes the U.S. doing its part. If the world is to address climate change, that’s what we inevitably gotta do.
But I do understand the emotional pull of: if the world as a whole isn’t addressing the problem, then why bother.
This doesn’t deter me from advocating for greenhouse gas and climate change policies.
Also much of the “but China!” argument is repellent to me. I remember Rush Limbaugh ranting years ago that drivers in some other countries get to have fun rolling coal and driving dirty vehicles while American drivers are deprived of this supposed fun. This type of appeal is at the core of the argument, why politicians find it attractive.
Also I feel that every time civilization adjusts to avoid ecological disaster, the result is an improvement in the quality of life. Installing sewers and water treatment made life better, even though people found it to be an expensive imposition. Replacing coal heat with gas heat made life better. Going carbon neutral will result in overall improvement in the quality of life.
But still, every now and then I feel: if the world as a whole isn’t addressing the problem, then why bother?
We’re all in the same leaky boat. The leak may be bigger over in Chinas’ section but the leak in our section will still sink the boat. At least China is making massive investments in renewables. And if you decarbonize your economy you can start charging a carbon tariff on imports and perhaps attract back some of those manufacturing jobs lost to other countries.
Here in Canada you hear that we only contribute 1.5% of global CO2 emissions. But we have 0.5% of the worlds’ population so we’re emitting at three times the global average. So there’s our starting goal on the way to net zero. A small goal that should be easy for such a rich country.
We’re not going to solve Indias’ and Chinas’ problems for them. Canada can only make one Canadas’ worth of difference no matter what any other country does or doesn’t do so we might as well start doing it.
I always feel a little conflicted when deniers in the United States yammer about China and India.
My fundamental answer is: every path to carbon neutrality includes the U.S. doing its part. If the world is to address climate change, that’s what we inevitably gotta do.
But I do understand the emotional pull of: if the world as a whole isn’t addressing the problem, then why bother.
This doesn’t deter me from advocating for greenhouse gas and climate change policies.
Also much of the “but China!” argument is repellent to me. I remember Rush Limbaugh ranting years ago that drivers in some other countries get to have fun rolling coal and driving dirty vehicles while American drivers are deprived of this supposed fun. This type of appeal is at the core of the argument, why politicians find it attractive.
Also I feel that every time civilization adjusts to avoid ecological disaster, the result is an improvement in the quality of life. Installing sewers and water treatment made life better, even though people found it to be an expensive imposition. Replacing coal heat with gas heat made life better. Going carbon neutral will result in overall improvement in the quality of life.
But still, every now and then I feel: if the world as a whole isn’t addressing the problem, then why bother?
We’re all in the same leaky boat. The leak may be bigger over in Chinas’ section but the leak in our section will still sink the boat. At least China is making massive investments in renewables. And if you decarbonize your economy you can start charging a carbon tariff on imports and perhaps attract back some of those manufacturing jobs lost to other countries.
Here in Canada you hear that we only contribute 1.5% of global CO2 emissions. But we have 0.5% of the worlds’ population so we’re emitting at three times the global average. So there’s our starting goal on the way to net zero. A small goal that should be easy for such a rich country.
We’re not going to solve Indias’ and Chinas’ problems for them. Canada can only make one Canadas’ worth of difference no matter what any other country does or doesn’t do so we might as well start doing it.
And do something about your damn forests burning up and causing more emissions of greenhouse gases!
“I’m talking about that electric vehicles are so heavy that our roads and bridges aren’t capable of handling that” is a quaint critique.
I’ve heard that talking point before but not from a candidate.
Does anyone have more info on that?
An EV car is lighter than a pickup or a hummer. No-one complained about the weight of these vehicles on infrastructure when they came on the scene.
The trend to embiggened vehicles didn’t seem to upset her before.
Why don’t we have road taxes based on curb weight x mileage? These days it’s a much better proxy for road wear than gasoline consumption.