The US is the second country in the world by CO2 emissions, after China. And China is trying to improve, not go the other way.
We also start wars all over the world, work to destroy legitimate governments, and kill innocent civilians at rates that dwarf those of any other country, not only now but in history.
I guess it depends on what you call "killing the planet", but by any reasonably metric I can think of that fits that description the US is definitely one of the leaders.
According to the data /u/AdelleChattre supplied in her comment, in the past 40 years China has increased their emissions by 500% while increasing their population by 40%. In the same 40 years, USA has increased their emissions by 15% while increasing their population by 50%. How is China trying to improve but the USA isn't?
Welll, they claim that they're committed to the Paris climate change accord, and seem to have a plan. Also, they have been steadily reducing coal use. Sure, they've done damage in the past, but at least seem to be moving in the right direction, unlike the US.
Plus, even if you believe that China are the number one bad guys, being number two still fits the bill for being "one of the world leaders".
Maybe it's more of a phrasing issue, but saying "we’re now one of the world leaders in making it worse" makes it sound like a recent development. I'm saying that yes, we are bad... yes, we are one of the worst emitters... no, we aren't doing enough. However, relative to population, the USA is actually moving in the right direction while China and several other developing countries are not. Looking at our emission numbers, it appears we've peaked in MtCO2 emissions and are slowly working the number down. That's gross numbers. if you look at it per capita, we've actually improved quite a bit.
The US is the second country in the world by CO2 emissions, after China. And China is trying to improve, not go the other way.
We also start wars all over the world, work to destroy legitimate governments, and kill innocent civilians at rates that dwarf those of any other country, not only now but in history.
I guess it depends on what you call "killing the planet", but by any reasonably metric I can think of that fits that description the US is definitely one of the leaders.
According to the data /u/AdelleChattre supplied in her comment, in the past 40 years China has increased their emissions by 500% while increasing their population by 40%. In the same 40 years, USA has increased their emissions by 15% while increasing their population by 50%. How is China trying to improve but the USA isn't?
Welll, they claim that they're committed to the Paris climate change accord, and seem to have a plan. Also, they have been steadily reducing coal use. Sure, they've done damage in the past, but at least seem to be moving in the right direction, unlike the US.
Plus, even if you believe that China are the number one bad guys, being number two still fits the bill for being "one of the world leaders".
Maybe it's more of a phrasing issue, but saying "we’re now one of the world leaders in making it worse" makes it sound like a recent development. I'm saying that yes, we are bad... yes, we are one of the worst emitters... no, we aren't doing enough. However, relative to population, the USA is actually moving in the right direction while China and several other developing countries are not. Looking at our emission numbers, it appears we've peaked in MtCO2 emissions and are slowly working the number down. That's gross numbers. if you look at it per capita, we've actually improved quite a bit.
That said, we still need to do more.