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Tuesday, November 21st, 2023

The Great Carbon Divide

Author:     Jonathan Watts, Ellen Wishart, Rich Cousins, Alessia Amitrano and Pip Burkett
Source:     The Guardian (U.K.)
Publication Date:     Sun 19 Nov 2023 | 19.01 EST
 Link: The Great Carbon Divide
Stephan:  

This the latest report on the grotesque wealth inequality currently shaping the world, it is the worst in over a century. In the United States as of 2023, there are a 735 billionaires and 22 million millionaires. In contrast, the average median income in the U.S. is $67,521, but in some Southern Red states it is only $50,000. That means there are people who make more in an hour than most Americans make in a year. And that wealth inequality has direct implications on climate change. To quote this report, “Today, we reveal the main finding of Oxfam’s report: that the richest 1% of the population produced as much carbon pollution in one year as the 5 billion people who make up the poorest two-thirds (combined).” This is becoming an enormous issue that is shaping the cultures of all the nations in the world.

The climate chasm between the world’s carbon-guzzling rich and the heat-vulnerable poor forms a symbolic shape when plotted on a graph. Climate-heating greenhouse gas emissions are so heavily concentrated among a rich minority that the image resembles one of those old-fashioned broad-bowled, saucer-shaped glasses beloved of the gilded age: a champagne coupe.

At the top is the wide, flat, very shallow bowl of the richest 10% of humanity, whose carbon appetite – through personal consumption, investment portfolios, and share of government subsidies and infrastructure benefits – accounts for about 50% of all emissions.

Just below is the epicure, that narrowing joint of the glass where the dregs collect. This is made up of the middle 40%, whose carbon habit is roughly proportionate to its number but still double the average carbon budget that everyone would need to stick to if the world is to have any chance of avoiding more dangerous levels of climate breakdown.

Going further down is the long, slim, fragile stem comprising the remaining 50% of the world’s population, whose carbon use tapers away along with incomes. At the […]

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