The United Nations of Climate Change
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Peter and Maria Hoey
With 4.5 percent of the world's population, the United States is responsible for nearly 20 percent of global carbon dioxide emissions. In burning fossil fuels we are surpassed only by China, but Chinese per capita emissions are only a quarter of ours.
State by state, our CO2 output equals that of entire countries, as approximated below. Data are from the U.S. Energy Information Administration and are for 2007, the most recent year for which international figures are also available. —Paul Rauber