> Instead they ban plastic straws while the Chinese burn another million tons of coal.

I know it's easier to blame China than look at what we've done, but:

- The US generates more co2 per capita than China does.

- A lot of what China makes is products that we buy from them.

- The US has about twice as many CUMULATIVE co2 emissions than China does (remember, the co2 stays trapped in the atmosphere)

- The feds have gleefully killed as many clean energy initiatives as possible. Meanwhile, China leads the world on clean energy, has driven down renewable and EV batteries by 90% since 2010, is the world's largest renewable energy producer and investor, and is on track to generate half of its energy from renewable sources by 2030.

> Which is why I think we need carbon pricing / tax.

That only works if its global. Otherwise people just shift activities to somewher with a lower tax.

plastic straws have been banned for a different reason than fighting climate change: they were the vast majority of trash showing up on shorelines.

I am with you with wanting carbon taxes, but it's not like there's a single issue that can ever be tackled at a time.

Isn't the core issue that energy use and economic growth are deeply connected? If America uses a little less thanks to a carbon tax, it will just be cheaper for india and china, and their prosperity will grow more while americas begins to lag?

>Instead they ban plastic straws while the Chinese burn another million tons of coal.

The chinese quite literally have greener energy than germany at the moment and are building the shit that you buy off of amazon. China is the only reason the current solar push is as successful as it is. Tame your sinophobia.