My country, New Zealand, is intent on self-flagellating with carbon policy which just feels so absurd and silly when our emissions are a tiny drop is the gigantic ocean of carbon emissions from the US and China. Why should we hurt ourselves economically when we cannot possibly make a difference, while our adversaries and allies alike enrich themselves while destroying the planet?
I hear you, and I think it's also fucked up (as someone who lives in the US) that our climate success is so easily reversed by the whims of whoever is in power today. If it makes you feel any less bad, new Zealand doing it acts as fantastic proof that a good chunk of New England could do it, or that the American South could do it. Plus, there isn't a lot of love for polluting policies; just tolerance from the government for polluters. Nobody here likes to see their kids have asthma, or to see their water contaminated. The size thing can make it feel hopeless, but what is the US if not a handful of New Zealand's?
Don't let your political opinions get in the way of understanding what is happening around you.
> The increase in greenhouse gas emissions is attributable to a combination of a cool winter, the explosive growth of data centers and cryptocurrency mining and higher natural gas prices, according to the Rhodium Group, an independent research firm. Environmental policy rollbacks by President Donald Trump’s administration were not significant factors in the increase because they were only put in place this year, the study authors said.
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