The volume of carbon dioxide belched into the atmosphere from human activity this year is on track to decline slightly from last year's emissions, according to a new analysis published in the journal Nature Climate Change on Monday. The anticipated decrease in CO2 emissions comes even as the world economy is growing, suggesting a turning point in clean energy development—and a long-hoped-for "decoupling" of economic growth and increased carbon emissions.
[...] Decreased coal use in China—whose carbon dioxide emissions account for nearly one-third of global emissions—was largely responsible for the decline in global emissions, the researchers concluded. After a decade of rapid growth, China's emissions rate slowed to 1.2 percent in 2014 and is expected to drop by approximately 3.9 percent in 2015, according to the report. More than half of new energy needs in China were met in 2014 from non-fossil fuel sources, such as hydro, nuclear, wind and solar power.
(Score: 2) by GreatAuntAnesthesia on Tuesday December 08 2015, @03:25PM
Well there are proxies and there are proxies. If what you care about is "number of deaths by gunfire" then measuring the number of guns in public hands is not an exact proxy. Indeed, some people might have very opposite ideas about which way the proxy needs to trend for your issue to improve. On the other hand, "number of people who got shot" would be a much closer and less controversial proxy. In the case of TFA, I'd say we are much closer to the second than the first.
Personally I care about having an ecosystem that supports the global human population and sea levels that don't require me to drink Kevin Costner's recycled piss in fifty years time. What do you care about?