MAY I attempt to answer Dr Charles Wardrop’s two questions regarding greenhouse gas emissions and global warming (Letters, September 4)?
First, the two-decade pause (or hiatus as it is dramatically referred to by some of its proponents) in global warming is, it seems, a grotesque misrepresentation of the historic data. Just google “global warming pause” to find various reputable sites that debunk the claim that global warming stopped between 1998 and 2013. The Wikipedia site is particularly good as it shows with a dynamic graph how the global temperature time series data has been selectively abused. Other reputable sites (for example, Nasa) support this interpretation.
Secondly, Dr Wardrop lists China, India, (most of) the United States and Australia as the “big emitters” of CO2. These countries (and others) can be referred to as big emitters, but for different reasons. Again from Wikipedia, in 2015 China had the largest total emission of CO2, double that of the USA that came second, but that’s because China has by far the larger population. On a per capita basis, China’s output was less than half of the US. India comes fourth in the list of total CO2 output in 2015 but, you’ve guessed it, it has a rather large population: its output per capita was less than one-eighth of the US and less than one-quarter of China’s. Australia comes well down the list of total CO2 output in 2015, but on a per capita basis, Australia was worse than the US (18.6 v 16.1 tonnes per capita). The worst emitters per capita appear to be the Middle East oil-producing states, but having small populations these countries are way off the radar when total CO2 emissions are highlighted. For comparison, the Wikipedia figures show that the EU came third in total CO2 emissions but per capita was slightly lower than China and well behind the US, but more than three times Dr Wardrop’s “big emitter” India. The UK did a bit better than the EU as a whole (6.2 v 6.9 tonnes per capita) so probably qualifies as a moderate emitter per capita in global terms.
India’s, and to a lesser extent China’s, total CO2 output will continue to rise for some time, as will that of all other developing counties, as their energy consumption increase with their growing economies. We cannot stop the aspirations of the developing countries to mirror the successes of the West. The West, with its generally relatively high per capita CO2 output, needs to cut emissions. The salvation of the planet depends on the development of efficient renewable energy resources so that the burning of fossil fuels can be reduced to sustainable levels. It seems to me that China at least understands this requirement. Does the President of the United States?
Des McGhee,
21 Douglas Muir Drive, Milngavie.
SO a scientific study suggests that 80,000 bats per year are being killed by UK windfarms ("Plea for lights as thousands of bats killed by windfarms", The Herald, August 28). So much for the rhetoric about these hideous wind turbines being green and environmentally friendly.
Geoff Moore,
Braeface Park, Alness.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel