Forget gold. We need to switch our monetary valuation to the CO2 standard. CO2 is the most potent energy source known to man, and the US is the world’s #1 manufacturer (per capita.)
As an added benefit, if we pumped enough CO2 into the atmosphere, we could warm America by 20 degrees and thus massively reduce our heating expenses and greenhouse gas emissions.
As of 2007, we weren’t even in the top 10 per capita. I think I read somewhere that Australia had a higher per capita than the U.S. now, but I don’t know if that’s valid…just did a quick search.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_carbon_dioxide_emissions_per_capita
-Scott
Here’s evidence that Australia outdid us in 2008:
http://www.ucsusa.org/global_warming/science_and_impacts/science/graph-showing-each-countrys.html
On the other hand, I don’t think I buy these numbers at face value. How are they calculated? If we grow food and export it somewhere, is the farming our emissions or the buyers? If Saudi Arabia exports oil, do the emissions (from the removal process) count as Saudia Arabia’s, or as the consumers?
-Scott
The polyphemous, perfidous politicians in Australia pushing a carbon dioxide tax tell us that Australia is the highest emitter of carbon dioxide per capita (or, on even-numbered days of the week, the highest in the developed world).
They lie, of course.