China Tells

中国政府近日宣布，在2020年以前将碳排放量降低到2005年的40%-45%，以兑现对世界环境的承诺。该承诺是为年底在哥本哈根的联合国气候大会铺路。对此许多有识之士提出了拥护或者质疑的看法（点击此处阅读天涯观点）。中国虽然是碳排放总量和美国并驾齐驱的最大的两个国家之一(点击此处观看图表), 但是人均排放量远远低于世界平均水平，更只有美国的1/4，凭什么要把矛头指向中国？同时二氧化碳排放量的增加对地球大气造成的伤害到底是否存在有多严重还很难讲。中国的弱势在于地球大气方面的研究都是西方引领，因此用来做政策性结论所依据的科学资料也都是从西方借来，自然在道理上讲不过人家。当然每件事情都有两面性，比如政府在西方压力下减排，对某些污染严重的城市也是好消息，毕竟环境好了对老百姓的健康也是好事。

China Government recently announced to reduce CO2 emission to 40% of the 2005′s level by 2020. Such an announcement is welcome by most countries, but also arouses suspicion within the country. The First question is whether we shall base the emission on total volume or volume per capita. Due to China’s large population base, even if its total emission is among the highest, its CO2 emission per capita is much lower than world average (See Graph from Chinatells). The second question is whether it is necessary to reduce CO2 emission to protect the environment, and whether it is effective. It could be surprising to the ordinary people that our scientific study on world temperature and environment is far from accurate to ascertain the correlation between coal burning, CO2 emission, world temperature, and environment. In other words, it is not clear whether a reduced emission of CO2 would lower the world temperature, whether the human activitity if the main reason for increased CO2 emission, and whether a higher temperature would damage the world environment.