Details amidst profusion

 

On our 250-mile circuit west of Austin on April 23rd I devoted most of my photographic time to the broad displays of wildflowers by the thousands. You’d most likely have done the same. Even so, I managed to squeeze in a few closeups, like the prickly pear cactus flower above and the base of a yucca below.

 

  

 

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Many developing nations never shared the Western elite’s obsession with reducing emissions. Life for most people on earth is still a battle against poverty, hunger and disease. Corruption, lack of jobs and poor education hamper their futures. Tackling global temperatures a century out has never ranked high among the priorities of developing countries’ voters—and without their cooperation, the project is doomed….

Beijing talks a good game about climate change, but China’s economic growth has relied on burning ever more coal. China is the world’s pre-eminent greenhouse-gas emitter and produced the largest increase of any nation last year. Renewables made up 40% of China’s primary energy in 1971. By 2011 they had fallen to about 7%, as coal use increased. Renewables have since inched up to 10%. Strong climate action could cost China nearly a trillion dollars annually. No wonder Beijing is dragging its feet.

This dynamic means that most of the world, particularly India and much of Africa, will continue to focus on becoming richer through fossil fuels. Russia and its allies will ignore the West’s fixation on climate change. China will simply make money from selling the West solar panels and electric cars while only modestly curbing its emissions. As rich countries attempt to export the cost of climate policy to poor countries through carbon-adjustment taxes, they will further drive a wedge into an already fractured world.

 

That’s from Bjørn Lomborg’s May 8th editorial in The Wall Street Journal titled “When the Only Problem Was Climate Change,” with subtitle “After the Cold War, the West took a vacation from history. Now it’s urgent that we get back to work.” You can click to read the full editorial.

 

© 2024 Steven Schwartzman