The Greenhouse Gas Indicator

Mr Thwaites said he expected the figure to decrease. "Now that people are aware that we are emitting about 2 million tonnes of greenhouse gas every week, I expect that people will start looking at ways to cut back. One of the problems with greenhouse gas emissions is that people haven't been aware how much we are emitting and why." [source]

You obviously can't change what you can't measure, so it's nice to see the launch of a weekly indicator of statewide greenhouse gas emissions (found here)

I'm wondering if Thwaites will be correct though - will that figure decrease in the near future? I'm doubtful of any significant decreases for two reasons:

• Our population is still growing at more than 1% per year, (which happens to roughly coincide with the 25% increase in greenhouse gas emissions over the last 17 years).
  
  
• I've reluctantly come to suspect that Jevons paradox is very real. (Anecdotal evidence: the number of houses in my neighbourhood that have installed efficient air-con units that are then continually run day and night seems to be increasing).

So I guess we'll just have to wait and see, won't we Mr Thwaites?
If the indicator *does* continue to go up in spite of our efforts, it might provide a bit of a wake up call to those who believe that token efforts like "switching appliances off at the power point wherever possible" are going to cut it. It might show that we need to think bigger, and start re-examining some of the things that we consider not-negotiable in our modern way of life.