Chinese cities use “mist cannon” to shoot pollution from the sky
1–10 of 105 posts
Re: Chinese cities use “mist cannon” to shoot pollution from the sky
#2Doesn't this simply remove some of the symptoms instead of working with the root cause?
Re: Chinese cities use “mist cannon” to shoot pollution from the sky
#3Doesn't this simply remove some of the symptoms instead of working with the root cause?
yes, it would appear that's exactly what it's designed to do.
Re: Chinese cities use “mist cannon” to shoot pollution from the sky
#4Doesn't this simply remove some of the symptoms instead of working with the root cause?
Autocratic governments aren't exactly known for their forward seeking vision. Problems come up and half assed solutions come down. There's no democratic element to demand a higher level of service, say with how the US had its environment movement which led to many laws protecting the land, air, and water and ultimately culminated into several state agencies, federal guidelines, the EPA, etc. These are large holistic changes brought about by the democratic process in Western states. Autocratic states don't have this mechanism so its a lot of basic face saving moves because politically this issue isn't that important and/or interferes with the CCP's ability to grow its economy. This creates a real victimization of innocents who don't have a voice because they're governed without consent.
Birth defects have increased about 70 percent in China over the past two decades, now reaching about 900,000 per year, according to the country's Ministry of Health.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/soot-and-smog-put-...
Study Links Polluted Air in China to 1.6 Million Deaths a Year
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/14/world/asia/study-links-pol...
Air pollution is killing about 4,000 people in China a day, accounting for 1 in 6 premature deaths in the world's most populous country, a new study finds.
http://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/air-pollution-kill...
A "mist cannon" isn't helping with this.
edit: I have made fair cites and laid out my argument. Driveby downvotes just show how biased HN is towards China.
Re: Chinese cities use “mist cannon” to shoot pollution from the sky
#5Doesn't this simply remove some of the symptoms instead of working with the root cause?
Autocratic governments aren't exactly known for their forward seeking vision. Problems come up and half assed solutions come down. There's no democratic element to demand a higher level of service, say with how the US had its environment movement which led to many laws protecting the land, air, and water and ultimately culminated into several state agencies, federal guidelines, the EPA, etc. These are large holistic…
Pretty easy for you to say that considering the U.S. economy was already developed/grown (as you say) when this environmental discussion came to the forefront. It's always easier to forfeit when your whole hand is not on the table..
Re: Chinese cities use “mist cannon” to shoot pollution from the sky
#6Doesn't this simply remove some of the symptoms instead of working with the root cause?
Yes. Sometimes alleviating symptoms is necessary to give you breathing room (heh) to work on the actual solution.
Re: Chinese cities use “mist cannon” to shoot pollution from the sky
#7Doesn't this simply remove some of the symptoms instead of working with the root cause?
Autocratic governments aren't exactly known for their forward seeking vision. Problems come up and half assed solutions come down. There's no democratic element to demand a higher level of service, say with how the US had its environment movement which led to many laws protecting the land, air, and water and ultimately culminated into several state agencies, federal guidelines, the EPA, etc. These are large holistic…
You're totally underestimating the Chinese government but you don't fail to see the trade off they have decided to go for.
As you said China has decided that financial growth beats the consequences of pollution. You can discuss that direction as much as you want but that's the direction of overall Asia. It has nothing to do with forward vision or full-assed solution.
Re: Chinese cities use “mist cannon” to shoot pollution from the sky
#8Doesn't this simply remove some of the symptoms instead of working with the root cause?
Yeah, it does seem like an "out of the air, into the groundwater" solution. But sometimes you have to stop the bleeding before the injury can heal, and China is making progress [1] on the root cause also.
[1]: https://e360.yale.edu/digest/china_anti-pollution_efforts__l...
Re: Chinese cities use “mist cannon” to shoot pollution from the sky
#9Doesn't this simply remove some of the symptoms instead of working with the root cause?
Autocratic governments aren't exactly known for their forward seeking vision. Problems come up and half assed solutions come down. There's no democratic element to demand a higher level of service, say with how the US had its environment movement which led to many laws protecting the land, air, and water and ultimately culminated into several state agencies, federal guidelines, the EPA, etc. These are large holistic…
You realize that the level of environmental protection that we currently have in the US is only possible at the current level of consumption because we exported most of our polluting industry to China, right?
Re: Chinese cities use “mist cannon” to shoot pollution from the sky
#10Doesn't this simply remove some of the symptoms instead of working with the root cause?
Yes. Notably, this doesn't preclude the ability to both alleviate symptoms and work on the root cause simultaneously.