Environmentalism

[watson]

Thanks to Industrialisation and Globalisation China is now set to become the wealthiest country on the planet. But of course it all depends on how you define wealth, and what price you put on things like breathing;

Does being wealthy involve more than just successfully shifting capital about? If the past 30 years have taught us anything then the answer is a resounding yes.

 

[watson]

.

 

[Victor Ian]

Instead of Australia being polluted, all those yellow people are being polluted for us. I thought that would be a win in your book.

 

[sledger]

Urgh, not another thread about religion.

 

[superkingdave]

 

[DriveClub]

Trump will protect the environment, no need to worry

 

[Anil]

Trump will protect the environment, no need to worry

yeah globalization is the evil that caused all the pollution, once america starts protectionism in real earnest, all that will go away...plus dismantling the epa should also help...just you wait and see, climate change effects will be reversed in the next 4 years...

 

[watson]

Instead of Australia being polluted, all those yellow people are being polluted for us. I thought that would be a win in your book.

Oh for Pete's sake.

 

[straw man]

I read this the other day. Sounds lovely.

City of burning lakes

 

[Spark]

yeah globalization is the evil that caused all the pollution, once america starts protectionism in real earnest, all that will go away...plus dismantling the epa should also help...just you wait and see, climate change effects will be reversed in the next 4 years...

You joke, but I've lost count of the number of left-wingers I've heard over the years claim precisely this. Oddly, they never seem to have an explanation for Aral Sea went (like, literally, where the **** did it go) under the autarky-oriented USSR.

 

[AndyZaltzHair]

I read this the other day. Sounds lovely.

City of burning lakes

The situation must be very very bad. 2025 is not far off. Dhaka will have similar fate too.

 

[straw man]

I'm sure 'uninhabitable by 2025' is an exaggeration and no matter how polluted a place gets, people will continue to eke out an existence there. It seems that figure comes from another article which makes this 'uninhabitable' claim based not so much on pollution (though that's still relevant) but simply on lack of access to water.

Devendrappa, a 73-year-old farmer, got water at 30 feet below the ground when he first drilled a borewell in his field in the late 1980s. Recently, he had to dig to till 1,020 feet. He used to grow groundnut on 9 acres five years ago, but that has come down to 5 acres. "In another five years, I may not grow anything at all," says a dejected Devendrappa. This is the story across Karnataka. Groundwater, a major resource in times of crisis, is dwindling. Increase in the number of borewells and the decline of groundwater levels have resulted in borewells sinking to the depths of 1,000 feet in several areas.
"The average annual rainfall in Karnataka is 1,248 mm. But the estimated 20 lakh borewells in the state draw almost three-and-a-half times of the amount (rainfall) received to recharge the groundwater. Hence, it's no surprise that most borewells have gone deeper, even up to 1,000 feet, and the ones which aren't as deep have run dry," said a senior hydrologist with the state government.

 

[Anil]

You joke, but I've lost count of the number of left-wingers I've heard over the years claim precisely this. Oddly, they never seem to have an explanation for Aral Sea went (like, literally, where the **** did it go) under the autarky-oriented USSR.

got it but i have never been that far to the left on the economic front...have always considered pure communism to be an impractical and dangerous ideology akin to religious fanaticism...i am definitely not as much to the right as i used to be, more of a centrist now...

 

[Son Of Coco]

You joke, but I've lost count of the number of left-wingers I've heard over the years claim precisely this. Oddly, they never seem to have an explanation for Aral Sea went (like, literally, where the **** did it go) under the autarky-oriented USSR.

The drying of the Aral Sea is a direct result of it seeing a group of conservatives sitting on the banks of the Syr Darya. One look and it dried up in a similar way a woman's ****** does when she spots the same thing in a bar.

 

[watson]

Instead of Australia being polluted, all those yellow people are being polluted for us. I thought that would be a win in your book.

Back when I was a boy it took me about 6 months to save for my first VCR in 1985. The cost of the VCR at the time was just under $500, the cheapest in the market. Even by todays standards that's a lot of money to play tape.

It was shortly after 1985 that America decided to outsource its manufacturing to China. The reason given at the time was that the consumer would benefit as things like expensive VCRs gave way to cheap CD players.

This is true of course, but the actual reason is that about 60 mega corporations and the Chinese oligarchy stood to become fantastically rich. Unrestricted by American Industrial and Environment Protection laws they could exploit a mountain of cheap labour and the environment at the same time virtually unopposed.

However, the price of such a trans-Pacific deal has become apparent. It is no coincidence that the average global temperature has reached unprecedented levels as the Chinese manufacturing power-house consumes half the world's coal. No other country comes close;

The World's Biggest Coal Consumers

The top ten coal consuming countries account for over 85% of the world’s total coal consumption, with China alone consuming as much as rest of the world together.....

China's coal consumption grew by four percent to 2.75 billion tonnes in 2013 accounting for over half of the world's total coal consumption in the year. China is also by far the biggest coal producer accounting for about 47.4% of the world's coal output in 2013.

Coal accounts for over 65% of total energy consumption in the country. China, the most populous and the biggest energy consuming country, is also the world's biggest coal importer followed by Japan and India.

The US, a net exporter of coal, consumed 651 million tonnes of coal in 2013 accounting for about 12% of the world's total coal consumption. It is also the second biggest coal producing country having accounted for about 13% of global coal production in 2013.

The world?s biggest coal consumers - Mining Technology

It is true that Chinese consumption of coal has come down since the historical highs of 2013, but the shift is still negligIble in real terms, and its supposed transition into a Green economy is still decades away.

Too late according to the bulk of Climate Scientists, and too late for a whole generation of Chinese people who now endure a new kind of poverty that in some ways is worse than the old kind of poverty. For all practical purposes hundreds of millions of Chinese people are little more than corporate slaves in a disgusting toxic environment with unbreathable air.

The stark reality is that after 30 years we Australians, and everybody else, have merely sacrificed natural wonders like the Great Barrier Reef for a cheaper VCR. Personally, I'd much rather pay the $500.

 

[hendrix]

The stark reality is that after 30 years we Australians, and everybody else, have merely sacrificed natural wonders like the Great Barrier Reef for a cheaper VCR. Personally, I'd much rather pay the $500.

You could buy a solar panel from China rather than a VCR. Or a hybrid car. Or a composting toilet.

Your consumer's choice did it, not trade deals.

Australians choose to eat extremely high quantities of meat that release 30x as much carbon as most asian diets, to drive rather than use public transport, to mine heavy metals with little environmental protection. Australians choose to spend their paycheque on drugs and alcohol and ARL rather than investing in the environment.

China's public health campaigns and environmental awareness is already leagues better than Australia's. Not saying they're great or anything, but it is extremely rich for an Australian to focus his environmental and consumer concerns on China, and moreover to use this a critique of globalisation.

 

[hendrix]

 

[hendrix]

The lucky country takes the lead

 

[vcs]

I don't see how a map of fast bowler density is relevant to this discussion though

 

[hendrix]

I don't see how a map of fast bowler density is relevant to this discussion though

haha that was pretty good