A graph is worth a thousand pictures

I have a little saying about the American National Geographic magazine. It goes: "look at the pictures, don't bother with the words". The photography is invariably of a very high standard, albeit of a particular style, but the text is too often devoted to selling the "American line" on things and is sometimes disturbingly right of centre. Occasionally, however, it can excel itself as it has with the April 2014 edition. The edition covers the world's consumption of coal, and features a graph showing different nation's use of this non-sustainable resource, first in the year 2000 and then in 2011. For some reason it didn't include figures from the UK, though I believe our use was low in 2000 and less in 2011. Some industrialised countries like us have used less in the intervening 11 years, some, like South Africa and Japan slightly more. India is using nearly twice as much as it was, whereas the US itself, using commendable and uncharacteristic restraint, is using about 5% less.


But the really stunning thing revealed in the graph is the block for "Red" China (perhaps it should be called "Black China") In 2000 it was using only using slightly more than the US, about 1.5 billion tonnes a year. In 2011 this figure had rocketed to 3.8 billion tonnes- in fact, China is currently consuming as much coal as the rest of the world put together. Could this have something to do with the perma-smog that envelops Beijing and much of its industrial heartland, smog which regularly drifts with impunity across international borders and pollutes the air of Korea, Thailand and many other nations? Damn right. And damned wrong. This crime against the atmosphere must be stopped before it's too late- for all of us.


Some scientists say there is a major tipping point approaching for the planet: 1 trillion tonnes of coal burned. It is believed that this immense figure will put enough greenhouse gas (ie CO2) into the atmosphere to guarantee a temperature rise of greater than 2 degrees- and that spells disaster. As of 2012 the total was 545 billion tonnes. But if China continues to consume coal at its current rate, the 1 trillion tonne rubicon will be crossed in 2040.


Something has to be done. We know China cares little for dumb animals. We know they care little for ordinary human beings. It is now clear they care little about the Earth itself, except in so far as how they can most profitably exploit it. And while the rest of  the world is struggling to get its act together and become a greener place, China is plunging into a policy that seems to be ensuring its doom.


Go green China, damn you. You have a right to develop, but not at the cost of the Earth!