UN climate chief: Communism is best to fight global warming

[Kadagar_AV]

China actually has goals and guidelines in environmental questions.

They are also world leading in solar tech, and already plan for a world without oil.

I'm no big fan of China, but from where I am standing, it sure looks like they do a damn better job than us in the west on these issues.

[Xiahou]

China actually has goals and guidelines in environmental questions.

They are also world leading in solar tech, and already plan for a world without oil.

I'm no big fan of China, but from where I am standing, it sure looks like they do a damn better job than us in the west on these issues.

The cognitive dissonance in this line of thinking amazes me. Last I checked they're still building two coal-fired power plants a week. The air around their capital is often unbreathable with as many as 1.2 million deaths a year in the country linked to air pollution. Their CO2 emissions are continuing to skyrocket while ours are falling.

Yet, they "do a damn better job" than the west?

[Kadagar_AV]

The cognitive dissonance in this line of thinking amazes me. Last I checked they're still building two coal-fired power plants a week. The air around their capital is often unbreathable with as many as 1.2 million deaths a year in the country linked to air pollution. Their CO2 emissions are continuing to skyrocket while ours is falling.

Yet, they "do a damn better job" than the west?

I know very little about this.

But at least they acknowledge that there is a problem...

[Sarmatian]

The cognitive dissonance in this line of thinking amazes me. Last I checked they're still building two coal-fired power plants a week. The air around their capital is often unbreathable with as many as 1.2 million deaths a year in the country linked to air pollution. Their CO2 emissions are continuing to skyrocket while ours are falling.

Yet, they "do a damn better job" than the west?

1.2 millions on 1.35 billions in China. 0.2 millions on 300 millions in US.

In China it's 0.08%, in US 0.06%. Coupled with the fact that you're a few stages in industrial development ahead of them and that your heavy polluting industry has been moved away from population centers, nothing to write home about.

China has the added problem of having a New York-sized city on every corner - more people concentration, more industry and traffic, more pollution. It's also partly a numbers game.

[a completely inoffensive name]

We have gotten to the point of patting China on the back because they are merely trying to clean up the toxic wastelands in and around their cities. This is how much you all have taken liberal democracy for granted and resent it for the slow but methodical way it works.

Anytime someone gives me the line "at least they're doing something", I wonder how much they would appreciate the homeless going around town robbing stores instead of just sitting around, waiting for change.

[Husar]

We have gotten to the point of patting China on the back because they are merely trying to clean up the toxic wastelands in and around their cities. This is how much you all have taken liberal democracy for granted and resent it for the slow but methodical way it works.

Anytime someone gives me the line "at least they're doing something", I wonder how much they would appreciate the homeless going around town robbing stores instead of just sitting around, waiting for change.

It's not our fault that China is simply a better country.
The only place where people are happier according to official polls is North Korea.

[HoreTore]

This thread lacks some nuance.

Yes, China is undoubtedly one of the filthiest boys in the class. For most of its modern history, China has not paid any attention at all to the environment. They have polluted rivers, the air, their land and their people without any regard for the long term consequences, instead caring only about the short term material advancement of their people, particularly forcing through an industrialization process as well as increasing agricultural produce with the aim of self-sufficiency. The communist regime has seen enlightening the backwards farmer as well as ending China's historical hunger problem as their number one priority.

This, however, is not what the person in the OP refers to. China swaps out its entire leadership at irregular intervals, and it is the effects of one such change she refers to. China's leadership consists of almost exclusively engineers. There are no people with business or communications degrees in the Chinese leadership, nor is there much of a military presence. This has changed the attitude of the Chinese leadership. Unlike western politicians, the Chinese politicians simply do not question a scientist. They have a hefty respect for scientific authority, and do not question it like ours do.

"Global warming is a myth!", "The green lobby is looking to enrich themselves at the expense of the taxpayer!", "The world is getting colder, not warmer!" and such related nonsensical statements are regularly heard from our members of parliament. Unthinkable statements in China. The gap in attitude between west and east is enormous.

Does this mean China is leading the race for green policies? Nope. They have changed their attitude, but they have not as of yet changed their actions. China is still the filthy boy in the class. The new attitude has not been converted into new practices. Yet.

There is hope that they will convert their attitude into actual politics, and it is this hope the woman in the OP refers. She's jumping the ball quite a bit, but the situation is a bloody lot more nuanced than some of the posters here are letting on.

[a completely inoffensive name]

Chinese scientists have authority as long as what they report is in line with the concerns of leadership. If scientists advocated a course of action that threatened chinese economic growth, they would be ignored and reprimanded. Hence why China is deeply concerned with clean up after the fact instead of preventative measures, such as not building a coal plant every 2 days.

[Husar]

This thread lacks some nuance.

I just brought in the nuance by saying that China is only second to North Korea and not the first best country as some here would have you believe. That's enough nuance to put things into perspective.