<
https://www.salon.com/2023/08/22/how-wealthy-super-emitters-are-disproportionately-driving-the-climate--while-blaming-you/>
'Climate change is primarily caused by humans burning fossil fuels, as well as
other activities that produce greenhouse gases. But that blame is not evenly
distributed amongst the entire human species.
A recent study published in the journal
PLOS Climate emphasizes that the
society's elites are disproportionately responsible for the extreme weather
events linked to climate change like heatwaves, droughts, floods, tropical
storms, hurricanes and rising sea levels. Indeed, as corresponding author Jared
Starr described American greenhouse gas pollution, "the top 1% of households
are responsible for more emissions (15-17%) than the lower earning half of
American households put together (14% of national emissions)."
"Our study is the first to link US households to the greenhouse gas (GHG)
pollution generated when creating their incomes," Starr, a graduate student at
the University of Massachusetts Amherst's Department of Environmental
Conservation, told
Salon in an email. "I think this offers a fundamentally
different perspective on carbon pollution responsibility and new insights into
emissions inequality. We found that the highest earning top 10% of households
are responsible for about 40% of U.S. GHG."
Although the United States only includes roughly five percent of the world's
population, it is accountable for more than a quarter of the activity fueling
climate change. This is in large part because of America's dominance as the
world's foremost economic power — a dominance reflected in its large investor
class, which because of its wealth is figuratively steering Earth off of the
climate cliff.
"For the first time, we also quantify the share of emissions related to
investment," Starr explained. "The share of emissions coming from investments
increases as we move up the income ladder. For the top 0.1% households, more
than half of their emissions are coming from investment income." Starr used a
visual analogy to illustrate his point.
"If we picture this on a graph and imagine the bottom 10% households' emissions
(1.6 metric tons) are the size of average home, then the top 1 percent's
emissions would be the size of [five] Empire State buildings stacked on top of
each other and the top 0.1%'s emissions would be taller than Mount Everest,"
Starr told
Salon. "This scale of emissions inequality was unknown before our
study. I think it is a climate justice issue and it poses a fundamental
challenge to our political system to respond to this level of emissions
disparity."'
Via Diane A.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
