Making Daily Headlines · Page 5
US Emissions Move in the Wrong Direction With Exceptionalism Intact
· New York time
A United Nations report says the United States was the only major economy where planet-warming pollution rose dramatically last year. The report also warns that the world remains on course for catastrophic warming, placing the US increase within a much larger international problem. The finding matters because progress is measured in emissions, not in the number of plans, announcements or reassuring graphics produced about emissions. An upward movement in pollution cannot be offset by making the downward arrow in a presentation substantially more attractive. For Americans, the assessment raises questions about the relationship between economic activity, energy use and the policies meant to reduce environmental damage. Those questions require attention to outcomes rather than a competition over which slogan sounds most confident. The comic target is the familiar managerial instinct to celebrate activity as though it were achievement. Climate accounting is particularly resistant to that approach. The atmosphere does not attend the press conference and cannot be persuaded that the increase was really a form of brand engagement. A serious response begins by treating the direction of the numbers as consequential. The national talent for calling something a leadership position becomes less useful when the category is one the country should not want to lead.
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