Washington Gets All Tiffy Over China’s Emissions

written 9 Nov 2007 over a light lunch

I saw this article via Wired’s RSS Feed today, which basically states that China isn’t planning on curbing its growing emissions problem anytime soon. With 1/6th of the world’s population, China doesn’t even emit as many greenhouse gases as the United States, which has approximately 1/3rd of the population as our Red doppleganger.

China claims that developed countries, not developing countries, should shoulder the burden of fighting global warming. Surprisingly, this makes sense to me.

Consider the fact that China is an emerging player in the game, its people are taking to cars and factories in record number as they struggle to get out of poverty and into the Chinese version of the American dream. Of course, the American dream and its equivalents across the 1st World are the reason we’re in this global mess, but still – if China were to begin curbing emissions now it would basically mean they’d need to stop growth.

Further, it’s hilarious that the US would be advocating China get on board with the Kyoto Protocols (which, incidentally, let developing nations like China and India slide on the requirements) when it hasn’t even done so itself.

Filed Under: issues confronting us all

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I completely agree with you! Hilarious doesn’t even describe how outrageous it is.

It would be wonderful though if since China is spending all this money on restructuring the country and growing into its new skin, that they built it around an eco-minded infrastructure now instead of patching it on later once the country has fully developed. It would cost the country and the environment a lot less to plan early and nothing would have to be replaced or wasted later. A totally aside dream…
China could use the opportunity to be an example to the rest of the world on how it should be done and create the ideal model on which new communities are created around the world.

Aside from the greenhouse gases stats, I often wonder where China lies on consumption of gasoline now that more people are putting down their bicycles for new cars, as well as other precious earth resources like steel… where they’re at now on those and where they are predicted to be once they’ve reached a developed peak.

- Ms. Wakame | 08:12am 10 Nov 07
yeah and if Europe and the US would have already proven that Eco-models can be affordable/profitable, maybe China and India would follow, but no developing nation is going to take the initial burden of developing the technology.

And keep in mind that in places like these, “cheaper” always wins. If a person has very little they’ll do whatever is necessary to keep themselves climbing the ladder.

- nathan | 11:42am 10 Nov 07
Definitely. And its that cheapest is best mindset that has gotten us to where we are now.

But all over the world new techniques are being used to build eco communities using fewer expensive resources and that require little to no maintenance at all. Consider how cheap it is for a government to run a community that needs no sewer lines, no electricity lines, almost no water pipes, wireless internet. And a village where everything you need is close by so you rely a lot on local produce and services — wear and tear on roads is minimal because people are walking and cycling to areas close by and parking isnt a big issue anymore. That space can be used for vegetable gardens, community areas and housing. Fruit and veg are hardly ever frozen and hardly ever transported over long distances except when out of season, and bordering neighbourhoods share their excess resources. The technology is already out there for all these ideas and are being used every day.

I have heard that when you build an eco house for one family it can be expensive, but when you build for a community with the help of the community the costs are minimal because the facilities are shared.

- Ms. Wakame | 08:38pm 11 Nov 07
yeah, starting out with that type of infrastructure would definitely be the ideal way to go, though it probably isn’t the reality of what will actually happen.

And its a lot easier to provide yourself with what some people might even consider the “luxury” of being Eco-minded – when the average person living pretty much in squalor has a chance to move up to the middle class if they opt for the cheapest route getting there, most would just do that and leave the consequences to later generations.

- nathan | 09:13pm 11 Nov 07