I think that some of you need to get out of your little fantasy world where America is always right and amazing. Sure, we have a good Constitution; I'm not arguing with that. A lot of countries have it worse. But we are the variable in the equation that equals global warming.

A + cites + oil= pollution and global warming

A=America

And it wouldn't be as bad if people cared. But most of them don't, and if they do, a lot of them don't do anything. I'm not complaining about the government, I'm complaining about the pollution and oil use and NOT CARING.

I'm not just blaming America either. But America plays a large role in it. I don't care what country it is, if people don't care about what they're doing to the earth for their own selfish need, it's gonna tick me off. I do stuff to help the Earth, and it really bothers me when:

No. One. CARES.

which country emits a fourth of the world's greenhouse gasses but only uses up (about) 4.5% of the world's population? which country is number three in the most executions per year? which country has over 14 trillion dollars in national debt? you guessed it -- america.

although i will say, HELLO!?!! DO NOT COMPLAIN ABOUT AMERICA IF YOU DON'T LIVE IN IT!! COMPLAIN ABOUT ENGLAND AND HOW THEY (i bring this up from an earlier post) SPEND TONS OF MONEY ON A QUEEN THAT DOESN'T EVEN DO ANYTHING ANYMORE!!

ok, that it. i agree with some of your points, but you just don't write something like this if you're not american. 

The message that the USA emits 25% of the world's greenhouse gases is important and could probably have been explained a bit better, and without such prejudice, in this article. It's important, though, that the issue was raised in the first place.

It's true, also, that China emits simiar volumes to the USA. The difference is that there are over 1 billion Chinese and approx. 220 million US citizens. Sorry if figures not perfect. But you get the picture.

It boils down to the fact that citizens of the USA emit 4-5 times more gh gases per person than China. That's a lot and in the next 20 years the entire world will suffer if the US and China both don't start to reduce the volume of gases they emit. It won't be a surprise if the next generation of people born begin to dislike both nations greatly when the whole world is suffering. 

Gases know no borders. Irrgardless of the country that produces the gases, the impact is felt across the planet.

For what it's worth, the UK produces less than 5% of greenhouse gases. On a per person basis it's stil much much lower than other parts of the rich world and it's one of the lowest.

The other big difference between China and the US is that the US is developed. It's made it past the industrial stage. China is still on the way. Doesn't make it ok. But the point that the writer seems to be making, and that many seem to have missed, is that the US is extremely wasteful even though it has no good reason to need to waste so much anymore.

Does anyone ever consider how the rest of the world will react to the USA in the next 10, 20 or 30 years if they don't change? It won't be just someone from England. It will be any nation that suffers as a result of climate change.

Even if the rest of the world cuts their emissions in half, it won't help if the USA doesn't cut theirs by more since the rest emit so little in comparison that their cuts have less impact. The big changes have to come from the US. That will take more than guts and the will that exists now, and many of us wonder whether anyone really has the guts to take a stand about that.

ok, lets talk about this Brit.  If we are so bad and need to put more time and money into other energy sources and conservation attempts, then why doesnt the British, Uk's, gov't stop putting money into a fake Queen that has no power in the said gov't and put that money into conservation and energy sources??

I do agree with you that America should change, I own a hybrid and am looking into an electric car, but its not a countries bad efforts or a Countries terrible doings, it is the worlds.

This article made very good points, and I agree that America as a nation is frequently romanticized so that we ignore the negative aspects of our country and contine to pat ourselves on the back for the ideals we originally adopted, but I think this article is a little harsh.

First of all, America is not at all the odd man out when it comes to contributing to Global Warming and over-consumption. That's the entire human race, not just America.

America has made mistakes. A LOT of mistakes. That is true. We've done unforgivable things. We are still doing unforgivable things. But we are not the worst thing that could happen to the world. We still hold onto the ideals that we originally adopted at our country's birth. We're still a democratic republic. We may not support civil rights as much as we should, but we're fighting for it. And I don't think it's fair that you're grouping the entire population of America into the same category. You don't think most of the people in America are bringing up the same issues you are? Of course we are!

Why do you hate America? Why would you hate anything at all? We may not be perfect, but who is?

To greaten our empire????? In case you haven't noticed, America hasn't grown in awhile. Oh, and watch the news once in awhile. Terrorism is a VERY REAL threat to America. There are a lot of people who want to kill us, so maybe a little fear is good, it keeps you on the lookout. I love America more than any other country.

PS Just to show you a difference between America and other countries: On 9/11, 3,000 Americans died. People in Iran and other countries went to the streets and CELEBRATED the death of 3,000 innocent people. When have Americans ever CELEBRATED, as in cheered for the fact that innocent people have died in another country????