Caracas Chronicles

Cuba's 2.2 metric tons of CO2 emissions per capita do not seem as surprising when we see that emissions of countries such as North Korea, Botswana and Mongolia are higher. Moreover, I would have not guessed that the emissions of Aruba and Trinidad & Tobago are even higher than the one's of the US.
It is rather amusing to think about Chavez's lecture when Venezuela' emits more CO2 per person than either France, Switzerland, or Sweden.

That's impossible.

CO2 is rationed in the island pairofdice.

Seriously tho? That can't be correct, unless it's CO2 emitted per unit of GNP.

Please, don't forget that pollution has many factors, not only cars and industry.
 
The electrical system in Cuba is old and inefficient. It is mainly based on  a network of small termoelectric plants burning fuel oil and, more recently, some mix of crude oil. That produces a LOT of GHG.
 
In the following link you'll find more information. It seems somehow biased but it also has some hard facts and interesting references:
 
http://ctp.iccas.miami.edu/FOCUS_Web/Issue68.htm
 
By the way, this is the system that Chavez is lately selling the Venezuelans as the solution to our electricity problems... future looks dark indeed...

Two details about the first link you posted: (1) the page shows both the total emissions and the per capita amount, you just have to click the link at the top of the list. And (2) the data there is from 2003, so it's a bit outdated. In fact, the link shows Venezuela at 5.38, rather than the 5.7 from JC's article.

The Table is copied straight from La Tercera, a Chilean newspaper, from Friday's edition.
 
www.latercera.cl

so much co2?
I understand Saudi Arabia's petrol price is also ridiculously cheap and men there (it is always men) prefer to drive their cars to any place no matter how close.
There must be a better way of measuring the ecological footprint...

If you look at the wikipedia link you just posted, you'll notice that Venezuela's CO2 emissions per capita have been fairly steady since 1990. They increased in 1998, but before that the average was nearly 6 anyway. The last 3 years it has had a sharp increase, but only after it came down from 6.7 to 5.2.

So, the point that Chavez is to blame for an increase in CO2 production isn't valid, but the point that Chavez is a goddamn hypocrite who demonizes everyone for not bending over backwards to save the world while he won't move a finger is, however, quite valid.

Actually, I'd count myself as a skeptic in this sense: I think it's heroic to try, but I don't think there's any way to make the politics of Emissions Reduction work. (I agree that the Free Rider problem is likely to prove insurmountable: any effective climate treaty would result in a dramatic fall in oil prices, but would require very high energy taxes to limit consumption. If a gallon of gas comes to cost 10 cents to produce but $3 to buy at the pump, you'll end up with massive contraband - gas as the new heroin.)
 
My guess is that over the next 10 years we're going to be hearing a lot more about climate change ADAPTATION and a lot less about prevention. You still do have 300 million South Asians living on land that will be sea-bed within a generation, and you're going to have to do something with them.
 
But the problem is that there is SO MUCH anti-rationalist lunacy on the right about climate change it's hard not to get a bit defensive. When people routinely, blithely accuse THE ENTIRE SCIENTIFIC PROFESSION of engaging in some sort of massive, sprawling conspiracy, you really have to take a deep breath and wonder what the hell has gone wrong with this civilization.