Voters in Ohio’s 5th Congressional District need better representation. Elected officials should be careful in their public statements not to mislead. Incumbent U.S. Rep. Bob Latta has not done this.
In a May 9 Washington Examiner op-ed opposing a new Environmental Protection Agency rule requiring power plants to adopt certain carbon-capture technologies, Latta complains that China is the world’s “largest emitter of greenhouse gases.” His argument seems to be that China’s emissions somehow excuse U.S. emissions or make U.S. efforts to reduce emissions futile.
It’s true that China emits more greenhouse gases than any other country, including the United States, and that U.S. emissions have decreased while China has increased emissions in recent times, but Latta says nothing about per-capita emissions, which is misleading to the extreme.
The most just approach to emissions would be to determine the total amount that can safely be emitted and then divide this amount fairly between countries, taking into account their populations and historical emissions. In 2022, the United States emitted 17.90 tons of CO2-equivalent per person. China emitted 10.95. If we consider historical emissions, then China is still within its carbon budget. The United States is not.
James Schultz,
Bowling Green
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