My Turn: Inspiration and technology
AGNORMARK AGNORMARK
Published: 5/11/2021 6:25:16 PM
I am writing in response to Jim Bate’s letter of May 10 “Points about solar.” I do not wish to dispute Mr. Bates’ observations, but rather to address some omissions and misconceptions.
Mr. Bates points out that the U.S. accounts for 15% of the global CO2 emissions, suggesting that even if we were to bring this amount down to 0%, the change would be negligible. There is not a statistician alive who would consider 15% to be a negligible amount. What Mr. Bates does not mention is that the U.S. accounts for less than 5% of the global population. Not only does this mean that per capita our emissions are three times the global average, but also, using his reasoning, eliminating the entire population of the U.S. would have a negligible effect on the world population. Does he truly mean to suggest this?