So India and China are both refusing to meet global demands to cap carbon emissions. According to this article, it seems like India's--and China's--main reason to refuse to cap their emissions is that they haven't had a chance to industrialize first, and that it's inevitable they will exceed caps while going through the process.
It's difficult to assess the fairness of this argument. For starters, it's basically the fault of the West that China and India didn't industrialize earlier (colonization, anyone?), but at the same time, shouldn't India have done something to cap its population long ago--I assume the population within China is slowing its rate of growth, but obviously it's hard to trust any available data on things like infant mortality, life expectancy, etc.? Basically, why should these nations be allowed concessions for an excess of population they shouldn't even have? But why can't the over two billion people in these countries enjoy the same amenities that the 300+ million people in the United States do? (Well, obviously, not all of them. If you are poor in America then you're pretty fucked; everyone's more interested in helping other countries' poor. I'm only sort of kidding here.)
But yeah. Should the G8 lower their caps even more to allow China and India to industralize, or should green options during the process of industrialization be mandatory from the beginning? I'd think the latter would make more sense, and could be combined with a better use of the massive manpower available there.
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