Chinese People Care More About the Environment than American

http://grist.org/news/the-chinese-people-care-more-about-the-environment-than-americans-do/

Those who oppose action on climate change in America are fond of complaining about how futile our own efforts to cut greenhouse gases are when China doesn’t give a hoot about its own emissions. But a new poll finds that the Chinese people do want action to cut pollution — even more than we do in America.

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And increasingly, the Chinese people are making their voices heard. This summer, Stephen Vines reported for Al Jazeera on the growing number of environmental protests in China:

The latest official State of the Environment report recorded 712 cases of “abrupt environmental incidents” in 2013, up 31 percent from the previous year. Many of these “incidents” are in fact protests, and the level of protest in the current year is, if anything, on the up. Yang Chaofei, the vice-chairman of the Chinese Society for Environmental Sciences, told members of the powerful Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress that environmental protests have been growing 29 percent annually from 1966 to 2011.

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To be fair it is more in their face, literally a cloud of smog in their face every day so I can see how that would make them more apt to say they want change. They may also not have a culture of who can be/say the most stupid thing and uneducated like we do here.

It would be so easy to make a comment on this thread that would be deemed politically incorrect, instead I think I'll just head over to Costco and get some new patio furniture to replace the last set that fell apart after two years.

http://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.cfm?id=16271" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


The Chinese have a right to same level of economic wealth per person that the west does.

AndyH said:

Those who oppose action on climate change in America are fond of complaining about how futile our own efforts to cut greenhouse gases are when China doesn’t give a hoot about its own emissions. But a new poll finds that the Chinese people do want action to cut pollution — even more than we do in America.

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I think there must be some confusion on the pollutants. Cleaning up smoky smog is a bit different from greenhouse gasses.
CO2 does not cause your lungs to burn, eyes to water or cut visibility.

ydnas7 said:

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The Chinese have a right to same level of economic wealth per person that the west does.

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They don't want the same things we have, and they, like most of the rest of the world, can have at least equal quality of life with much less energy used than a typical American.

China's leadership has adopted the Third Industrial Revolution, their coal use has fallen, they're working on both climate and their environment with active, actionable programs.

From the linked article:

China has a goal to reduce its carbon intensity, which is a way of measuring the carbon emissions per unit of gross domestic product, by up to 45% by 2020. Zhang said that China will reveal its goals for reducing emissions post-2020 during the first quarter of 2015, as the United States also intends to do.

Zhang said that in 2013, carbon intensity dropped by nearly 29% from the 2005 level, and that installed renewable energy capacity increased significantly as well.

“Responding to climate change is what China needs to do to attain sustainable development at home,” Zhang told the throngs of dignitaries, corporate titans and representatives of civil society groups at the U.N.

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Last year, China installed more renewable generation than we in the US have EVER installed...

LTLFTcomposite said:

It would be so easy to make a comment on this thread that would be deemed politically incorrect, instead I think I'll just head over to Costco and get some new patio furniture to replace the last set that fell apart after two years.

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Yes, because we have voted with our wallets that we value "cheap" over "good."

MikeinDenver said:

They may also not have a culture of who can be/say the most stupid thing and uneducated like we do here.

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Say what?? Can't quite tell if this was written with tongue in cheek, or not!

Plus, I thought patty ofurniture came from Ireland. ;-)

MikeinDenver said:

To be fair it is more in their face, literally a cloud of smog in their face every day so I can see how that would make them more apt to say they want change. They may also not have a culture of who can be/say the most stupid thing and uneducated like we do here.

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Yea - gee - China cares more about pollution than we do. I wonder why ...



hard to imagine folks with coal stoves in their house being concerned.
:?
.

mbender said:

MikeinDenver said:

They may also not have a culture of who can be/say the most stupid thing and uneducated like we do here.

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Say what?? Can't quite tell if this was written with tongue in cheek, or not!

Plus, I thought patty ofurniture came from Ireland. ;-)

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I meant a large portion of the population prides itself on being uneducated and thinks educated people are somehow to be denigrated. They also seem to flock to the people that say the stupidest things possible. :twisted:

hill said:

Yea - gee - China cares more about pollution than we do. I wonder why ...

hard to imagine folks with coal stoves in their house being concerned.
:?
.

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They may not even know that the coal stove is part of the problem or they may be concerned because they have no other choice if they don't want to freeze.

The level of common knowledge in China can be pretty low. I have a friend who spent years in one of the top 10 polluted cities in China. This place was so remote that when his blonde Finish girl friend came to visit she went for a walk and was run down by a store keeper who just wanted to touch her hair. Needless to say the relationship didn't last so later when he met a nice lady and back at his place she says "what's that?", he say's "it's a condom". Her response was, " Oh I've heard of them but never seen one."

A lot of the people just know what the government tells them and just does what the government tells them. If the government tells them a coal stove is ok they use it.

I could say about all of us in the west 10 years ago "It's hard to belive someone who drives a gas car is concerned with pollution" however without the choice that in a big part was driven by the government we wouldn't now be here all driving an electric car.

according to some Europeans, EU has now successfully reduced their CO2 emissions to below China's on a per capita basis. China has now successfully overtaken EU on per capita basis for CO2 emissions http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-29239194" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

with India to follow...

for 18 centuries, China was the worlds largest economic entity. this is a return to normal.
http://www.maps-china.com/shenzhen/index.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

This about covers it...

OSLO, Oct 26 (Reuters) - Climate change may have "serious, pervasive and irreversible" impacts on human society and nature, according to a draft U.N. report due for approval this week [Nov 2] that says governments still have time to avert the worst.

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European Union leaders on Friday agreed to cut emissions by 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2030, in a shift from fossil fuels towards renewable energies, and urged other major emitters led by China and the United States to follow.

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The United States called for clarification of the meaning of "irreversible."

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ydnas7 said:

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The Chinese have a right to same level of economic wealth per person that the west does.

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I've heard that a lot - and I think all the folks that have 'said' (said, typed, etc.) it actually believed it.

And that's a real serious problem. Because we humans on this planet are already using more than 1.5 Earths worth of raw materials and ecosystem services. If everyone on the planet achieves the same level of 'economic wealth per person' that Americans have, we'll need to find another seven planets to support them.

Americans don't even 'deserve' the level of 'economic wealth' they have. Continuing to promote the same level of greed and waste that we exemplify is suicide for all of humanity and most of the other life on this little, wet rock.

AndyH said:

ydnas7 said:

<snip>

The Chinese have a right to same level of economic wealth per person that the west does.

Click to expand...

I've heard that a lot - and I think all the folks that have 'said' (said, typed, etc.) it actually believed it.

And that's a real serious problem. Because we humans on this planet are already using more than 1.5 Earths worth of raw materials and ecosystem services. If everyone on the planet achieves the same level of 'economic wealth per person' that Americans have, we'll need to find another seven planets to support them.

Americans don't even 'deserve' the level of 'economic wealth' they have. Continuing to promote the same level of greed and waste that we exemplify is suicide for all of humanity and most of the other life on this little, wet rock.

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I agree, maybe if China can cut its population to about 1/10 the size of today they would have a better shot. But 1B is just not going to happen.