muso wrote on Dec 19
th, 2010 at 10:14am:
freediver wrote on Dec 19
th, 2010 at 9:22am:
Actually, when it comes to pollution, we punch far above our weight.
Some figures for 2007
Metric tonnes of CO2 emitted per person (number indicates ranking):
1. Qatar: 55.4 tonnes
11. United States: 18.9 tonnes
12. Australia: 17.9 tonnes
44. United Kingdom: 8.9 tonnes
51. New Zealand: 7.8 tonnes
79. Switzerland: 5.1 tonnes
80. China: 4.9 tonnes
124. Brazil: 1.9 tonnes
204. Nepal: 0.1 tonnes
By way of comparison of per capita to total emissions -
List of countries by 2007 emissions
Rank, Country, Annual CO2 emissions
(in thousands of metric tons), Percentage of global total
World 29,321,302 100%
1 China 6,538,367.00 22.30%
2 United States 5,838,381.00 19.91%
- European Union 4,177,817.86[11] 14.04%
3 India 1,612,362.00 5.50%
4 Russia 1,537,357.00 5.24%
5 Japan 1,254,543.00 4.28%
6 Germany 787,936.00 2.69%
7 Canada 557,340.00 1.90%
8 United Kingdom 539,617.00 1.84%
9 South Korea 503,321.00 1.72%
10 Iran 495,987.00 1.69%
11 Mexico 471,459.00 1.61%
12 Italy] 456,428.00 1.56%
13 South Africa 433,527.00 1.48%
14 Saudi Arabia 402,450.00 1.37%
15 Indonesia 397,143.00 1.35%
16 Australia 374,045.00 1.28%
52 Qatar 63,000.00 0.22%
18 Brazil 368,317.00 1.26%
72 New Zealand 32,662.00 0.11%
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_carbon_dioxide_emissionsIn the overall scheme of things, both per capita & Total size are important.
That said, if China, the USA, Europe, India & Russia are not in, then we are all out!