The picture is also skewed when we look at each country’s historical responsibility. To do this we add up all of a country’s emissions since 1750. The US is way out in front, having contributed 25% of the world’s emissions. The EU comes in second at 17%. China slips down the list to third place, having contributed only half as much as the US. India is even further down, having emitted just 3%. These perspectives can be useful. But when we turn climate change into a blame game, there is no end to it. People are not really fighting about the numbers. They’re fighting about what numbers they
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