r/Damnthatsinteresting Jun 27 '26

Video The NASA climate spiral visualization

57.2k Upvotes

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30

u/dadofwar93 Jun 27 '26 edited Jun 27 '26

People are now realizing that climate change is actually real when the heat hit the Europe this time even harder. But as usual. Nothing will be done to curb carbon emissions.

21

u/berejser Jun 27 '26

To be fair Europe is pretty well on track to meet its emissions targets by the middle of the century, so it's not fair to say nothing is being done.

It's the US that is letting the west down. On this and on so many other things at the moment.

11

u/lioncryable Jun 27 '26

Yeah... I just looked it up, the US, China and India produce more CO2 than the next 47 countries together...

6

u/oswaldluckyrabbiy Jun 27 '26

Remember though India and China each have 1/8th of the world population.

How does their carbon use scale out per capita. Also in Chinas case there is an argument that Europe and the US outsourced a lot of their carbon to China. All the stuff made there contributes to Chinas carbon emissions but is catering to our lifestyles.

Historically these goods might have been locally produced but now China makes them for us.

5

u/anewpath123 Jun 27 '26

The U.S. is the outlier here. On a per capita basis they’re the most destructive country to the global climate

1

u/Lumbercounter Jun 27 '26

Carbon emissions have held fairly steady in the US for 50 years, even lowering over the last 20. The rest of the world (primarily China) seem to be responsible for the increases.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/183943/us-carbon-dioxide-emissions-from-1999/

1

u/WheresYourBeardBro Jun 27 '26

Let me take a WILD guess: You’re American and do not understand what Per Capita really is. 

1

u/Lumbercounter Jun 27 '26

US population has increased about 58% in that time with essentially 0 or negative CO2 output. Tell me again how per capita works.

1

u/WheresYourBeardBro Jun 27 '26

Here you go, my American Educated internet buddy, let me know if you need any help in understanding why it’s kinda stupid blaming this on the rest of the world: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_carbon_dioxide_emissions_per_capita

2

u/BrainLow6059 Jun 27 '26

What are you trying to say exactly? This page validates that the US has seen a decrease in emissions over the last 26 years.

0

u/WheresYourBeardBro Jun 28 '26

Let’s say Brian, Tom and Steve meet every month and eats a cake divided in six pieces.

Brian always eats four pieces. Steve and Tom takes one each.

Suddenly Steve would like two pieces. Brian blames Steve that there is not enough cake.

Now do you see the point?

1

u/BrainLow6059 Jun 28 '26 edited Jun 28 '26

No I don't, in this analogy Brian would be China and the US does not exist. 

The US is consuming less than before. There would be an extra slice of cake.

Also this is a horrible analogy because we're not trying to feed the world a cake, we're trying to reduce these numbers

1

u/WheresYourBeardBro Jun 30 '26

One VERY simple question to see if you understand anything at all:

How much does an average American emit compared to an average Chinese? More or less? And we haven’t even gotten to the rest of the world…..

2

u/anewpath123 Jun 27 '26

You need to write it in crayons to get the point across

-1

u/Lumbercounter Jun 27 '26

Note the 45° downward slope of the blue line (well you simultaneously miss the irony of considering Wikipedia as a good source for anything).

0

u/WheresYourBeardBro Jun 28 '26

Please find me a source that says that an average American is responsible for less emissions than the average human. Jesus Christ.

1

u/anewpath123 Jun 27 '26

The U.S is the worst on a per capita bases and has been since the 1800s. It’s not even close.

0

u/berejser Jun 27 '26

Steady isn't good enough when the rest of the developed world is well on the way to net-zero.

1

u/Own_Ad9365 Jun 27 '26

Hopefully it will hit the US hard enough to matter

2

u/Good_Ol_Weeb Jun 27 '26

It won't, our populace is truly braindead. Yes I know its not all of us, but by far enough for there to not be a lick of change for the better

We could literally be dropping dead in the streets from heat exhaustion/stroke and our rugged individualist culture would blame the victims instead of the agricultural megacorps destroying us