Climate

People in the United States and most of the developing world have a distorted idea about climate change. They see the world only from their viewpoint. To them replacing fossil fuels means a little higher monthly utility bill and driving an electric car. To other parts of the world things look much different. In 1947 India, the largest country on earth by population, gained independence from England. At that time their average life expectancy was 32 and today it is 72. This was the result of cheap energy mostly coal. This was the same leap in prosperity that the US experience 100 years before India. They see the US as the country that achieved its enviable standard of living using fossil fuels and now they want other countries to forego that achievement by going to wind and solar. Not so fast they say. Now it is our turn. Indonesia is a the forth most populous country and has grown rapidly in the past 50 years. Their poverty rate has declined from 70% to 10% but they still spend 50% of their income on food. Indonesia is one of the worlds largest coal producers hitting a record high of 775 million tons in 2023. The country burned 33% more coal in 2023 than in 2022. These people are not interested in climate change when their main concern is putting food on the table. The average income is $7,000 per year.