The Rising Influence of Rising Affluence

[OakesCS]

i wouldnt draw the conclusion that the US is on a green streak. Dirty, messy stuff tends to go to lower cost countries where part of the reason for the lower cost is that they dont spend money on environmental care.

interesting that Venezuela is on the reduction side. I suspect not because their society is becoming more efficient. The EU isnt looking very good. Maybe they should have a few more CO2 sequestration banquets and throw up a few more windmills.

Of the world's top 4 most populated countries, the US is the only one on the reduction side. As biotech_researcher pointed out, some of that is because coal burning power plants are going away but also because things like steel and cement manufacturing are moving out of the US, c.f. https://www.wsj.com/articles/miners-test-greener-ways-to-dig-1531733401 (the graphics may not show up in Chrome).