Most of the pollution supposedly causing a climate problem is happening in poor countries of Asia, where nobody expects any significant improvement to occur. 2020 population estimates: China - 1,398, India - 1,319, Indonesia - 267, Pakistan - 213, Bangladesh - 164 (all in millions), totaling 3.4 billion. The world population estimate is 7,6 billion.
Nearly half of the world’s population is in four poor Asian nations. Add in the other poor regions of Asia plus Africa and Central Asia and you’re well over half. These are places where exactly no one expects any progress on pollution reduction.
We have an example on our southern border with Mexico. The ocean south of San Diego along the border is polluted with raw sewage. The U.S. could afford to build, operate, and maintain a modern sewage treatment plant for Tijuana, but we haven’t done so, nor is it likely. It might not solve the problem since the sewer lines leak and aren’t always used.
Most of the plastic in the oceans, most of the smoke from cooking fires, most coal smoke from electrical generation comes from nations where cleaner living is simply beyond economic possibility. Since we give up on most of the world’s pollution before we begin, whatever efforts are made should focus on how to mitigate climate change if it occurs.
