How can the US be labeled a polluter if we don't make anything anymore?

[Lancer]

Must be industry out there somewhere... Or is it consumption? Should we stop heating our houses? Don't europeans heat their houses? Drive cars?

Why is the US picked on?

[Kuciwalker]

Because the US is to blame for everything. Duh, Lancer, didn't you know that?

[Whoha]

Didn't you see that captain planet cartoon? We apparently make air conditioners so that we can slice them open(all of this at the south pole).

[Tripledoc]

Europe has 150 nuclear plants
America 103 nuclear plants

'Amusing' site on Nuclear power

[mrmitchell]

consumptioni

cars, heaters, etc.

Europeans do it too. But they have more regulations on it AFAIK

There still is SOME industry left. Particularly that which ignores enough laws to continue making a profit.

We've exported a lot of automobiles, steel, clothing, that kind of thing, but we are by no means free of industry.

Even if we were, there's still contaminated sites of former industry

[Dis]

because we consume everything made...

next question please.

[Drogue]

Because the US uses far more oil.

You're cars are far more wasteful than ours, you drive more, you use more power, you're industry and power stations burn more oil and coal, use worse forms of coal (lauxite (sp?)), have far far fewer environmental controls, etc.

Using a car/oil in Europe is far more expensive, since we have high taxes for it. For instance a gallon of petrol costs about £3.60 ($6) in the UK.

Bottom line, the US contibutes more pollution than any other nation, in total and per person (IIRC). Your pollution affects us, yet while we reduce our pollution, in order to reduce the effect on the entire world, you don't. That is why you're blamed for it.

[Whoha]

Originally posted by Tripledoc
Europe has 150 nuclear plants
America 103 nuclear plants

'Amusing' site on Nuclear power

we have more total reactors when you factor in all the ships we have though

[Dis]

yep

8 reactors on the USS Enterprise, 2 on each Nimitz class carrier (there may be 9 or 10 now)

1 on each ballistic missile and fast attack submarine. I'm not sure how many subs we currently have.

[Urban Ranger]

Some people drive to the corner store.

What lazy bums.

[Dis]

I never go to the corner store. cheaper to buy food items at the supermarket.

[CharlesBHoff]

Gargo Dump are fairly new in man history. In the ancient and medival world it than metal plow broke drown it was either repair or the metal reused to make something also it took alot of effect to mine ore and refine then include backbreaking labor and time.

[Tingkai]

The US manufacturing sector has grown by 12% since 1997. The US exported US$63 billion worth of manufactured goods in December 2003.

http://www.nemw.org/mfgfact.htm

The chart in the following link shows why the US needs to cut down its pollution.

http://www.sp.uconn.edu/~geo101vc/Lecture25/sld010.htm

Also, see http://www.oecdobserver.org/news/ful...ollution_alert!.html

[David Floyd]

Some people drive to the corner store.

"Other people" (me) drive to their mailbox and their dumpster

[Akka]

Re: How can the US be labeled a polluter if we don't make anything anymore?

Originally posted by Lancer
Must be industry out there somewhere... Or is it consumption? Should we stop heating our houses? Don't europeans heat their houses? Drive cars?

Yes, we do.
And still we manage to consume half as much energy and produce about three times less pollution per inhabitant than US. That's perhaps the point.

Why is the US picked on?

Because, despite being the most per-capita polluting country in the western world, each time someone ask to reduce pollution, US refuse by pretending it would hurt its economy, and that anyway there is no ecological problem, and that global warming and acid rains are just tree-lovers hoax, etc.