The largest cumulative contributor of greenhouse gases by far is the US, making it the nation most to blame for global warming, reports Bill Blakemore at ABC News. The US has injected the greatest amount of the heat-trapping invisible gas CO2 into to the atmosphere, about a quarter of the total, where a lot of it remains for years, piling up and only adding to the heat. China is a distant second, even though it is now the largest annual emitter, because it only recently began doing so, compared to the many decades that the US has been massively burning coal and oil. Nevertheless, China is now contributing about a quarter of the total annual greenhouse emissions compared to 17 percent by the US. It takes about a century for carbon dioxide levels to decrease by about two-thirds; after that, it takes far longer for the rest to disappear. The fact that the US has emitted the most carbon dioxide is a major factor in diplomatic requests from around the world for the US to take the lead in solving the problem.
Source:
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/technology/2012/07/whos-most-to-blame-for-global-warming/ Who’s Most to Blame for Global Warming? Bill Blakemore. The USA by a long shot… cumulative contribution of greenhouse gases…
