How about a bit of good environmental news? Global CO2 emissions has flattened over the past couple of years, largely because China has cut back on its use of coal:
The study, published in the journal Earth System Science Data, says global CO2 emissions from fossil fuels and industry is projected to grow by just 0.2 percent this year. That would mean emissions have leveled off at about 36 billion metric tons in the past three years even though the world economy has expanded, suggesting the historical bonds between economic gains and emissions growth may have been severed.
The bold phrase is key, of course: Society won’t stop trying to grow our global economy, but if we can’t do it without increasing greenhouse gases there won’t be much of a globe to have an economy for.
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