China or the U.S.?

In the 21st Century global warming version of the 19th Century gunfight at the O.K. Corral, we find the forces of good pitted versus the forces of evil — we just can't tell who's who.

In the New York Times coverage of Al Gore's Nobel Prize acceptance speech, Gore

singled out the United States and China — the world’s largest emitters of carbon dioxide — for failing to meet their obligations in mitigating emissions.

In fact, he called on both nations to

stop using each other’s behavior as an excuse for stalemate.

Gore went on to call the Bush administration

the principal stumbling block to progress in Bali right now.

The Chinese are trying to advance that same point of view, even though they are every bit as much to blame for rampant greenhouse gas emissions as the U.S.

In an AP story from Bali, titled China Says West Should Deal With Warming, China insists

the U.S. and other wealthy nations should bear the burden of curbing global warming, saying the problem was created by their lavish way of life. It rejected mandatory emission cuts for its own developing industries.

Su Wei, a top climate expert for China's government attending the U.N. Climate Change Conference, said:

the job belongs to the wealthy. He said it was unfair to ask developing nations to accept binding emissions cuts and other restrictions being pushed for already industrialized states.

He said the United States and its fellow industrial nations have long spewed greenhouse gases into the atmosphere while newly emerging economies have done so for only a few decades.

I don't know about you, but it seems to me that this pointless showdown is all about shooting one's self in the foot.

Carbon Neutral Journal's thoughts are brought to you by Hawtin Jorgensen Architects.

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