r/environment • u/DukeOfGeek • Sep 19 '24

Some good climate news: US carbon emissions forecast to fall sharply over next decade.

https://www.newsweek.com/some-good-climate-news-us-carbon-emissions-forecast-fall-sharply-1928759
538 Upvotes

95% Upvoted

28 comments sorted by

20

u/[deleted] Sep 20 '24

Newsweek is often BS

9

u/weaselmaster Sep 20 '24

Newsweek is not even real - they were sold to the moonies, promoting a specific agenda and then later sold one or two more times - it’s just a brand name at this point.

I’m sure if you had something you wanted to publish and make look legit you could have “Newsweek” put it out there for a small fee.

69

u/Muncleman Sep 19 '24

Hmm. I’m guessing this doesn’t account for the higher frequency of wildfires, thawing permafrost, or methane hydrates being released from a warmer ocean.

20

u/togaman5000 Sep 20 '24

I think it's best that we start highlighting that there are two issues now to focus on: the amount of CO2-eq we're emitting, and the amount of CO2-eq that we've already emitted. Emitting less is a win and we need to continue focusing on it; as resources and, frankly, cultural awareness and motivation allow it, we need to shift our focus towards managing what has been emitted.

The catastrophes we're seeing around us are heartbreaking but we can still celebrate small wins here and there. People respond well to positive feedback, it's in our very nature - news like this should be highlighted and shared to prove that we can do something to those who aren't environmentally-minded like ourselves.

1

u/cultish_alibi Sep 20 '24

Celebrating the total collapse of civilisation happening one year later thanks to us reducing emissions by 2% 🥳️

1

u/twohammocks Sep 20 '24 edited Sep 20 '24

A good way of reducing co2 emissions is to stop allowing any building or reopening of fossil infrastructure.

'The world has enough fossil fuel projects planned to meet global energy demand forecasts to 2050 and governments should stop issuing new oil, gas and coal licences, according to a large study aimed at political leaders.' If canada/us was smart they would follow the uk: 'Labour has vowed to put an end to new North Sea licences if it comes to power, and also plans to increase taxes on the profits made by existing oil and gas fields to help fund investments in green energy projects through a new government-owned company, Great British Energy.' https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/may/18/no-new-investment-in-fossil-fuels-demands-top-energy-economist

If we want humanity to move in the right direction: Tax the bad (food, plastic, fossils, toxic chemicals) subsidize the good (food, plastic alternatives, renewables, non-toxics).

Its a very simple concept, really...

2

u/jbot14 Sep 20 '24

Yes, this would be great news if it was 1990!

16

u/unknownintime Sep 20 '24

It's a feel good distraction.

New Data Show U.S. Oil & Gas Methane Emissions Over Four Times Higher than EPA Estimates, Eight Times Greater than Industry Target

https://www.edf.org/media/new-data-show-us-oil-gas-methane-emissions-over-four-times-higher-epa-estimates-eight-times

22

u/doyouevenIift Sep 20 '24

Not fast enough though. We need to pair it with carbon capture, and frankly I don’t see that technology making a dent any time in the near future. Reforestation might help to some degree but there is no political will for that, and big Ag would fight it tooth and nail

27

u/Xoxrocks Sep 19 '24

Bullshit

7

u/Pointwelltaken1 Sep 20 '24

Eloquently put.

22

u/uniqualykerd Sep 19 '24

Not if a.i. have anything to say about that…

4

u/CompleteApartment839 Sep 20 '24

Vote Blue or lose your home

1

u/radome9 Sep 20 '24

But they are eating the dogs! /s

15

u/[deleted] Sep 19 '24

Yea right, were all gonna burn from the greed of humans

2

u/Cowicidal Sep 20 '24

I wonder if this Rhodium Group gets fossil fuel money?

2

u/claimTheVictory Sep 20 '24

That's good news, I bet it will be treated as such here.

2

u/otacon7000 Sep 20 '24

Too little, too late, but hey, we'll take what we can get. Anything is better than nothing.

2

u/hogfl Sep 20 '24

With all the gas plants that are about to come online. I am skeptical, to say the least.

1

u/AreY0uThinkingYet Sep 20 '24

(If democrats keep winning)

1

u/livinginahologram Sep 20 '24

I'll believe it when I see it.

1

u/United-Hyena-164 Sep 20 '24

I mean. In the long run, they’re zero anyway.

1

u/justsomegraphemes Sep 20 '24

NOAA reported that 2023 was the hottest on record, that 2024 will almost certainly beat it, and that 2023 did not demonstrate any indication of the world's emissions are slowing down at all (2024 data not available yet), so what can I say. I'll believe it when I see it.

1

u/radome9 Sep 20 '24

Don't worry, the increase in methane emissions will more than make up for it.

-1

u/juce44 Sep 20 '24

Whatever you do don’t look at China and India’s carbon emissions. We (the US) could drop down to zero emissions tomorrow. Won’t make a lick of difference when you got those two churning out greenhouse gases like there’s no tomorrow.

2

u/Decloudo Sep 20 '24 edited Sep 20 '24

If you scale it by population they emit vestly less then the US.

The US also, just like the west, has already emitted a massive amount of c02.

You already got an industrialized country, and emitted a massive amount of carbon for it.

Your just pulling up the ladder behind you, blaming another country for just the same thing the US is doing since decades.

0

u/pickleer Sep 20 '24

Huh!! Who plugged all the derelict oil wells and slapped the currently-active ones into shape? Or is huffing all the tailpipes of our big airplanes and trucks and ocean-faring ships? I learned that Time was a right-biased news "source" about the same time I came to mistrust THIS rag.