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Comment by neya | Hacker News Reader

> The risk isn't the US doing nothing, it is India, Africa, etc, etc deciding that they seriously want a comfortable standard of living.

I can't believe that a country wanting to have a "comfortable standard of living" is seen as a "risk". Almost suggesting as if those countries don't deserve them and a comfortable standard of living should be reserved only for a select few countries.

I just can't fucking believe what I just read.

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Right? Surely it is the responsibility of the already developed nations to solve this crisis. Putting the blame on developing nations for daring to live the same way we do is... pretty ridiculous.

Don’t apply emotions to science. Ending COVID19 is a risk to global emissions, because the pandemic‘s lockdowns has reduced emissions.

Risk doesn’t mean emotional judgment or anything about who deserves what.

> Ending COVID19 is a risk to global emissions, because the pandemic‘s lockdowns has reduced emissions.

Long term it isn't. Reducing emissions is going to cost a lot of money. There is less money available for that after economies shrink and governments print money to support their people. Covid helps emissions temporarily but harms the overall path.

I assume consumption and population growth have declined due to COVID19, which also greatly reduce emissions. Even after it ends, it will take years before we return to pre-pandemic levels.

But slowing growth isn't enough. It needs to drop dramatically and permanently.

GP is correct, just expressed it in a clinical way. Re-read that commend, but mentally prepend to it "From a perspective of identifying the biggest contributing factors to the climate crisis, ...".

Calling some countries a "risk" isn't a value judgement. It's pointing out that focusing on US, EU and China is looking at less than half of the picture.

It's expressed in the wrong way, but the truth is the so-called developed countries should focus on the ways to help the developing countries in transitioning to renewable energy as quickly as possible. This is as important and urgent as finding a cure for COVID-19.

Especially while the US sits with our thumb in our ass demanding that we do nothing at all. "Comfort for me, not for thee".

Irrespective of who wins, the close nature of the election has shown that significant part of the U.S. lives in a different reality which thinks exactly like that.

It is unlikely there is political capital to make significant changes to reverse the damage.

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