Should we not control our climate before nature does it for us?

Having contributed their share of hot air, adding to global warming, strutting world leaders have returned home, leaving their lackeys to continue with the talkfest at the UN Climate Change Conference in Paris which is scheduled to end on 11 December. The US and China have already agreed a deal to hoodwink the rest of the world with the usual diplomatic rhetoric. The US will try to cut emissions to 2005 levels by 2025 and China will peak its emission by 2030. The US generates 67% of its electricity from fossil fuels, 39% of it from coal. With a population of 300 million the US produces 4.686 billion MW.hr/year while India, with a population of 1.3 billion, produces 939 million MW.h/year of electricity. Yet, the BBC has been concentrating on India's use of coal in producing electricity. The US and Europe point to the total amount of greenhouse gases emitted by India, which makes us the third largest net polluter, while we talk about output per capita. India says that rich countries industrialised over 100 years ago by using vast amounts of fossil fuels and should now pay for poor countries to shift towards renewable sources of energy, which cost a lot more than coal. The US is the highest consumer nation in the world, with consumer spending of over $11.3 trillion in the second quarter of this year, while consumers in India spent around Rs 16 trillion over the same period, which converts to just $267 billion. Much of world trade depends on consumption in the US. The average size of an apartment in the US occupies 2,600 sq ft for an average family size of 2.4 people, while an average of 4.8 people are crammed into an average flat of just 504 sq ft in India. And therein lies the problem. We have 3 times the number of people, compared to the US, which has 4 times the land area, compared to India. What the rich countries are not saying, because it will be politically incorrect, is that it is India's fault for not bringing down the number of people. Not only are we reluctant to discuss ways of reducing the number of people, we are actively encouraging excess of births, especially among the poor, by a vast number of social schemes, distributing handouts. Our exports have fallen for 10 months in a row to $21.84 billion in September. While consumer spending is the same money going from one pocket to another, exports bring in new wealth. China exported over $200 billion in September, which is why it is so rich. But the US is also a net consuming nation, so why is it the richest? Because it is the only nation which can print dollars and we need dollars to buy oil, gold and pulses. Rich nations consume a lot of meat which add to greenhouse gases while we are still calculating how many grams of pulses are needed for our children to grow. The floods in Chennai are a proof that poor nations will suffer much more from climate change. We have tot act now. Else mother nature will do it for us. That will be brutal.