One of the most common objections I hear to climate action is: “But what about China?”
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It's a lie that China's emissions have peaked. Their annual emissions are a vertical line. How are people suppose to take this argument seriously? Their coal production has outpaced even that of the US.
It's pure wishcasting by people who want there to be a "good guy" who will save us.
CO₂ emissions
How much CO₂ does the world emit? Which countries emit the most?
Our World in Data (ourworldindata.org)
@contrasocial @kathhayhoe you are not wrong, but I reckon this take is over simplistic.
even in the Our World in Data you can see the per capta emissions and, and here is the important bit, the historical progression.
take Europe (and the regions of Africa and others places it used to control) and the US and analise it with this question in mind: is it fair the rich countries, that got rich by exploring everything and everyone, now demands countries that are getting richer and making life for its people better to curb that because said rich countries now developed a conscience?
I'm not saying we should follow the destruction method or not care for environment, I'm just pointing out the complexity.
western rich countries need to be held MORE accountable.
and yet, places like China and Brazil, places that were harmed by colonialism and power play for such a long time and are, now, getting richer and prosperous (I'm not talking about just numbers, I'm talking taking people from the hunger map and etc), are developing it's industries and technology I a way more green way then the western world did. China is emitting a lot os CO2 but is aware and has a huge decrease plan for it - but to develop green tech, you need traditional industrial ways first... -
@contrasocial @kathhayhoe you are not wrong, but I reckon this take is over simplistic.
even in the Our World in Data you can see the per capta emissions and, and here is the important bit, the historical progression.
take Europe (and the regions of Africa and others places it used to control) and the US and analise it with this question in mind: is it fair the rich countries, that got rich by exploring everything and everyone, now demands countries that are getting richer and making life for its people better to curb that because said rich countries now developed a conscience?
I'm not saying we should follow the destruction method or not care for environment, I'm just pointing out the complexity.
western rich countries need to be held MORE accountable.
and yet, places like China and Brazil, places that were harmed by colonialism and power play for such a long time and are, now, getting richer and prosperous (I'm not talking about just numbers, I'm talking taking people from the hunger map and etc), are developing it's industries and technology I a way more green way then the western world did. China is emitting a lot os CO2 but is aware and has a huge decrease plan for it - but to develop green tech, you need traditional industrial ways first...I don't believe the atmosphere distinguishes between per capita and national, so I've never really bought that justification.
I also don't believe in the idea that any nation is entitled to an empire. Yes, China was once a great imperial power who colonized their region and then fell, and was subsequently abused by another imperial power. But to say they are therefore entitled to a new empire is the same logic the zionists use for what they are doing in occupied Palestine.
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China is also adding nuclear energy at a fantastic rate. In addition to having the third-most operating power plants by country (59), they have about 30 additional plants in construction and should overtake France (in second place) this year.
Every watt of that is carbon-free.
Funny the folks concerned about climate action seem to always forget to mention nuclear energy.
@cazabon @kathhayhoe mostly because you can get a gigawatt of solar+batteries online in a few years but it takes like 15-30 to get a nuclear plant online. It also happens to be a lot more expensive.
We absolutely should not have killed nuclear power in favor of coal in the 70s. But we don’t have time now to focus on it as a solution.
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