Losing the climate game

While I agree with Freidman that the United States’ lack of effort to combat climate change is frankly embarrassing, I think he also ignores a key point about China’s development. This is the Clean Development Mechanism in the Kyoto Protocol, in which developed countries can earn carbon credit by paying for green development projects in the developing world. The majority of CDM projects take place in China, which could be another explanation for their apparent motivation to switch to green technologies.

Even if China’s development is fueled by CDM, however, the fact remains that if fighting climate change were a game, the US would be losing. We seem to operate under the assumption that it is not real, or that if it is, there is nothing we should be doing to fix it. When the rest of the world is taking climate change seriously, this makes us look delusional and shortsighted. While it is not necessary to view climate change as a competition (“whoever lowers carbon emissions the most wins!”), being the odd one out should give us pause to reconsider our values.

Much of the way the international community regulates the environment is inherently competitive, however. For example, the Kyoto Protocol ties environmental impact to the economic market, which is by definition competitive. Under this system, lowering your impact gets you more than bragging rights; it carries an economic benefit as well. While the principles behind the Protocol seem solid, it has not lowered global emissions but rather seen an increase.

This suggests that market-based approaches toward green technology cannot be our only method for reducing our environmental impact. The change will have to come in the minds of citizens, policymakers, and businesses for any action to gain momentum. To effectively address the problem, we will not only need to switch to green technology, but also consider our consumption, lifestyle, and trading patterns.

The most embarrassing part of Freidman’s piece is not that China is surpassing us technologically, but that they are willing to talk about climate change while our politicians avoid the issue. The fact that China, the commonly cited example of climate indifference, can address the issue politically while the US seems unwilling to do so is a mark of shame for our country, its values, and our political system.