New study: American cause and - and could cure - most US emissions

'It's easy to mock little efforts to save the environment: reusing grocery bags, buying a Prius, putting an energy-efficient refrigerator in an energy-eating mansion,' says the Wall Street Journal.

While most 'arguments' are aimed at - 'big industrial companies that spew millions of tons of heat-trapping gases every year.'

American consumers actually 'have more influence over climate change than they might think.'

'US consumers have direct or indirect control over 65% of the country's greenhouse-gas emissions, according to new statistics tallied by consultant McKinsey & Co. The figure for consumers in the rest of the world is just 43%. Americans, largely because of how they drive and how they build and use their homes and offices, lead some of the most energy-intensive lives in the world.'

'It's hardly surprising that Americans burn more energy than their counterparts elsewhere in the world. With just 5% of the world's population, the U.S. burns 23% of the world's oil. What's striking about the McKinsey numbers is less the size of America's "carbon footprint" than its makeup.' ...