What does it matter what the Chinese people think of GW? The policy of the government is consistent with GW existing. They pollute quite a bit but that isn't shocking considering their economic status and history. The USA has a wider array of political/cultural beliefs. I believe that many Republican law makers actually believe in GW but don't want to face any perceived economic consequences.
I guess it is the oil companies preventing everyone from turning vegan, right? Probably using the fear of "where do you get your protein from".
Drop the vegan angle, you are not going anywhere with that. Eventually the USA will probably decrease meat consumption greatly, but it won't happen over night. Also Americans know that they consume products that contribute to GW. However that doesn't mean there should be no systemic changes or discussion. If China or the USA take steps to limit pollution, they should be encouraged with the understanding that both are major pollution culprits.
Because its costly to make and maintain the equipment and its very inefficient. Go research it further.
The vegan "angle" is very relevant. Since about 0.5% of Americans are vegans, the US has a lot of capacity to change its carbon footprint. Alternatives already exist and it wouldn't take a government mandate or spending program.
Not going to happen and you know that. There are always options; people could also start taking a bicycle to work or move into caves without any energy sources. None of the possibilities are likely to happen.
Speaking for myself it matters because it shows how widely this idea is excepted especially considering the PRC is now the greatest polluter and a country with a lot to potentially lose from addressing it.
I understand the Vegan angle and agree that methane from livestock is a contributor to GHG. That said this argument is like many, making the perfect the enemy of the good. We can and should cut back on animal protein, particularly beef, for a variety of reasons. I don't think going Vegan is the answer. For things like poultry and pork there are technologies for raising them much more efficiently and also recapturing waste.
Good evidence here showing why the politics of climate change - modifying GHG emissions through government mandate - is complete crap. Doing one of the easiest and most convenient things to lower GHG is too difficult. It's rocket science to these people.
However, do we really know what the Chinese people believe or accept? What appears to be clear is that the law makers in PRC are willing to address the issue or at a very minimum are not completely dismissive of it.
Again no, it isn't evidence of anything. We have laws precisely because people do not always do what is in their best interest or in the best interest of society. Also asking hundreds of millions of people over night to drastically and radically change their diet isn't "easy".
As I stated earlier there doesn't seem to be much evidence that most Chinese doubt AGW. If there was a movement in opposition to the government on this issue we would hear about it like we hear about with regard to issues of human rights, rule of law, and religious freedom. I would suspect that US politicians who deny AGW would trumpet dissident reports from inside the PRC opposing government policies aimed at addressing AGW if this was happening. Again I'm not ruling out that there aren't those in the PRC who don't accept AGW but it is a speculative argument to doubt that most Chinese aren't accepting the idea of AGW because the government tries to clamp down on speech.
Is this better? Yea, he think that you going vegan solve the AGW issue, instead of an effort to get nation and government to put in policies toward future energy. Been repeated for years in various forms, including kill yourself. As for "easy" as why we should go vegan. Killing yourself is also quite easy. Why don't you just go there and suggest that.
It's really because GW is just not a polarizing nor politicized issue in China. I don't know how climate change has become such a political topic where people are picking sides because of party lines, it's really stupid to me. From my limited knowledge I don't think there's a strong voice to be against GW, at least from the general public. I mean pollution is a huge issue in most big cities, when I was in Beijing, everyone complained about living and breathing smog 24/7 and most citizens were happy that they shut down a lot of the factories or mills around the city during the Olympics. I don't think people care that much about global climate change, or what will happen in 200 years to Earth, it's more of a get this pollution out of my face so I can see a blue sky more than once a month attitude. I would say pollution issues hits way closer to home in most places in China in comparison to America. In North America we always talk about consequences for our grandkids or whatever, in China it's more like a now issues. We are running out of clean water for Beijing now, or we breathing in toxic air right now. I do think the law makers or whatnot still puts money and the economy above everything else. Plus I'm sure companies in China have been greasing political wheels to turn the other cheek as much as possible. Let's just say even if the central government adopt a macro strategy to battle GW, it is imo still close to impossible to enforce it at the local level with the level of corruption.
Here is the brilliant logic of CF: Vegan = Living in a cave = killing yourself = more difficult than overhauling national energy infrastructure
Agree, as it has an immediate and direct impact each day. While working there during busn trip, first thing each morning we do is, check the AQI by US reading of China. I'm not sure how effective they censor AQI though, when you directly witness it daily. There have been protest and folks there are now very sensitive to environment issues (not just air, but water, food, etcs...). They badly need a "clean air" and other environmental push that the USA went through a few decades ago and China know it. They can't maintain a high carbon and pollute as usual economy. Their share of tackling AGW is part of their overall strategy to clean up their air and transition to a lower-carbon economy. They have already invested heavily into zero emission energy and into energy efficiency. I think the Chinese government and business folks see it as an opportunity. The recent Citi report show you how massive of an opportunity. The problems they are facing helps. The political nature of their problem (and the more recent market crash and major slow down in their economy) make it easier to aggressively move forward. It's not really that big of a surprise that they, for the first time, made a commitment to peak co2, along with others goals (going 50% green on building in a couple of years, going efficiency on transportation, cutting down other very harmful emission, etcs). Cap & Trade, going nationwide in 2017, is just part of that push... It still would be interesting to see how effective Cap & Trade, which heavily depends on free market capitalism principle, work in a government system that is non of that, even though we already seen how effective their economy had been once they moved toward that direction decades ago.
