Only USA

I was talking to a teacher (born in China) from New York city and a Japanese teacher of English. This is a short version.

The New Yorker said "I went to Los Angeles but I didn't really like it. It was really hard to get around. Nobody I asked knew where the bus stops were. And I was surprised how dirty the air was."
Then she asked the japanese teacher "Have you ever been to LA?"
"Yes, two times" she replied. She's about 35 years old.
"Did you like it?"
"No, there was too much driving."
We all concurred.
The Japanese teacher continued "That's why America caused global warming. Americans should buy nice, efficient japanese cars..."
"Like the land cruiser?" I asked. (It's a huge gas guzzling V8 SUV. Popular all over the world, including Japan.)

I know we (Americans) pollute a lot, but I get a sense here that everyone thinks the US is solely responsible for a lot of problems. Again, I know we waste a lot and pollute a lot, but we account for 25% of emmissions. But because the uSA is number one, I feel a lot of people feel let off the hook.

So lately we've had a warm spell. **I agree it's probably due in part to climate change** (I bike to work and hardly use my heater. I had no hot water in my house for 7 years but I finally gave in... so regarding my own "carbon footprint"...) but anyway, everybody says "Hmm, it's warm. This is a warm winter. It's like spring today. Hmmm, global warming..." then people look at me sideways and glance around nervously and then either change the topic or else ask me why the US doesn't care about global warming.

I'm not trying to deny the USA's responsibility for contributing to climate change, just 1) noting what I feel is many Japanese people's take on the situation (ie the USA *caused* it) and 2) the fact that most Japanese feel thier own industrialized society hasn't contributed much CO2 during the past 100 years of car, ship and computer building (ie we make only nice clean cars, if there is such a thing.) Yeah, yeah, I know it's less than the USA...