<![CDATA[Grist - Comment Feed for We heart China, honest]]> Grist Comment Feed en Comment #1 by jdhlax http://www.grist.org/article/we-heart-china-honest/ Wed, 23 Feb 2005 07:54:52 -0800 http://www.grist.org/article/we-heart-china-honest/1 Do As We Say, Not As We Do

How do you propose that anyone from the U.S. could possibly have any credibility with anyone in a place like China regarding sustainable development?  Most Americans now live in totally unsustainable suburbs and drive everywhere.  The vast majority ACT as if material wealth is the most important thing in their lives, even though it comes at the expense of the Earth.

Decades ago, the U.S. could have become a world leader in relatively "sustainable development," to the extent that the term is not an oxymoron.  For example, we could have completely banned private autos from urban areas while building good public transit, could have required those urban areas to be surrounded with agriculture to feed them, and could have required every building that uses any electricity to have its roof covered with solar panels.  Instead, Americans built a totally unsustainable society, based on attaining the most material wealth at the cost of extreme ecological and environmental degradation and destruction.

I cannot envision anyone from China listening to someone from the U.S. talking about sustainabile development.  This talk would have to come from places that actually take it at least somewhat seriously, like Western Europe.  American environmentalists have no way to make China do anything, and we'd be seen as hypocrites if we tried to convince the Chinese to develop sustainably.

]]> Do As We Say, Not As We Do

How do you propose that anyone from the U.S. could possibly have any credibility with anyone in a place like China regarding sustainable development?  Most Americans now live in totally unsustainable suburbs and drive everywhere.  The vast majority ACT as if material wealth is the most important thing in their lives, even though it comes at the expense of the Earth.

Decades ago, the U.S. could have become a world leader in relatively "sustainable development," to the extent that the term is not an oxymoron.  For example, we could have completely banned private autos from urban areas while building good public transit, could have required those urban areas to be surrounded with agriculture to feed them, and could have required every building that uses any electricity to have its roof covered with solar panels.  Instead, Americans built a totally unsustainable society, based on attaining the most material wealth at the cost of extreme ecological and environmental degradation and destruction.

I cannot envision anyone from China listening to someone from the U.S. talking about sustainabile development.  This talk would have to come from places that actually take it at least somewhat seriously, like Western Europe.  American environmentalists have no way to make China do anything, and we'd be seen as hypocrites if we tried to convince the Chinese to develop sustainably.

]]> Comment #2 by Japhet http://www.grist.org/article/we-heart-china-honest/ Wed, 23 Feb 2005 14:38:12 -0800 http://www.grist.org/article/we-heart-china-honest/2 From Red China to Green China

The good news is that China is already beginning the long road towards environmental practicality.  Numerous articles have recently mentioned China's reversal in environmental policy (they dusted it off and pulled it out of the hall closet).  This is at least a step in the right direction.  If China begins to suffer the health affects of hundreds of chlorine plants bubbling down hillsides into streams and rivers, and the effect of Three Gorges Dam on agriculture, they may begin to understand what the world's environmentalists have been screaming at them for.  In other words, China may begin to suffer the effects of too many people breathing too much coal and be forced to make rapid changes.  

Nonetheless, the U.S. can't say much.  We've had the luxury of a smaller population and an entire continent to tear up and smoke out.  It wasn't until people began becoming adversely affected that the government stepped in and created the Clean Air/Water Acts (thank god we still have those...oh wait a sec).  

But another concern that is outside this discussion is the affect the booming Asian economy, which rests on China, will have on the U.S.  That in itself is a whole other threat that I think is interwoven with the environmental argument.  

Japhet

Jay Els Educate, Motivate and Bring About Change. http://www.ran.org

]]> From Red China to Green China

The good news is that China is already beginning the long road towards environmental practicality.  Numerous articles have recently mentioned China's reversal in environmental policy (they dusted it off and pulled it out of the hall closet).  This is at least a step in the right direction.  If China begins to suffer the health affects of hundreds of chlorine plants bubbling down hillsides into streams and rivers, and the effect of Three Gorges Dam on agriculture, they may begin to understand what the world's environmentalists have been screaming at them for.  In other words, China may begin to suffer the effects of too many people breathing too much coal and be forced to make rapid changes.  

Nonetheless, the U.S. can't say much.  We've had the luxury of a smaller population and an entire continent to tear up and smoke out.  It wasn't until people began becoming adversely affected that the government stepped in and created the Clean Air/Water Acts (thank god we still have those...oh wait a sec).  

But another concern that is outside this discussion is the affect the booming Asian economy, which rests on China, will have on the U.S.  That in itself is a whole other threat that I think is interwoven with the environmental argument.  

Japhet

Jay Els Educate, Motivate and Bring About Change. http://www.ran.org

]]>