Originally posted by Grendel
Per-capita numbers are useful if the measure you're interested in is how naughty each of us are in terms of contributing to the problem as individuals, but those numbers don't necessarily tell you where the problem is most acute. If the question is 'Which country has the most polluted air' the answer isn't the United States. When figuring per-capita numbers, don't forget that China is now home to almost 1.3 billion people. As for where the gunk actually is, here is an interesting link to study.
But Kyoto and climate change is not about who has the worst air. Climate change is about the total output of greenhouse gasses. The US makes 40% more than China, so agian why should China have to do as much towards climate change as the United States?