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China completes green belt around Taklamakan Desert

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Re: China completes green belt around Taklamakan Desert

#51

Post by kjkjadksj »

abeppu wrote: post #6
bloopernova wrote: post #2

It took 46 years to create the 1,900 mile, ~3060 km green belt around the 130,350 square miles (337,600 km2) desert. The linked article doesn't say anything about negatives, but the positives seem to be very beneficial for the area. I really wish other major powers would commit to similar projects. In my opinion, communities need larger goals to strive towards, to provide a sense of continued belonging and reinvestme…

I've sometimes wondered whether arid parts of the American Southwest could, through the right kind of permaculture interventions, support more biological carbon sequestration, more plant life, drive development of richer soil etc. But I suspect if you said "we're gonna use this big section of BLM land to incrementally try to keep water in the landscape, and introduce a sequence of plant species that can increase carb…

Probably a lot easier to just cut down all the trees in the midwest and throw them into a deep ocean trench every few years than to go up against the activation energy you will face converting a desert environment into something presumably more wet and less hot. This isn’t Arrakis.

Re: China completes green belt around Taklamakan Desert

#52

Post by Ylpertnodi »

Etherlord87 wrote: post #16
jmyeet wrote: post #10

China may well have replaced the USSR as the latest bogeyman to keep attention away from whatever war crimes the US is currently supporting or committing, but all I can think about is the ~$10T spent on and millions of lives lost to the "War on Terror" and what could've been done with the money instead. I mean just look at the high speed rail transformation in 16 years [1]. China is not without its issues but neither…

> China is not without its issues but neither is the US government and at least China is investing in long-term infrastructure for their people. Do you claim USA doesn't invest in long-term infrastructure?

>Do you claim USA doesn't invest in long-term infrastructure?

Do you have any examples of where it has invested in long-term infrastructure? I ask, because I can't think of any, beyond 'roads'.

Re: China completes green belt around Taklamakan Desert

#53

Post by baserev »

maxglute wrote: post #39
Etherlord87 wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

jmyeet mentioned building rails, and baserev makes a counterargument, that it isn't necessarily a good "investment".

Counterargument based on retarded data. There's only ~1000 HSR stations with ~30 considered ghost, ~3%. It's not a good investment, it's a great investment. It's already profitable. Utilization is increasing YoY. All for ~1T over 20 years. Put it this way, US excessive health spending (~5% over OECD average works out to 2T/5T per year), PRC got entire HSR network for 6 months of excessive US health care spending that…

Citations please

Re: China completes green belt around Taklamakan Desert

#54

Post by emptysongglass »

einpoklum wrote: post #38
emptysongglass wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's kind of the point of democratic institutions, though: centralizing a lot of these directive powers leads to explosive efficiencies at the cost of liberty to, for example, surface objections as you illustrate. Or, more dramatically, throwing people who object into dark cells. That's how autocratic regimes can take on megaprojects without a lot of the red tape that leads to, for example, a paralytically slow rol…

Wouldn't you say the US is somewhat of an outlier w.r.t. government ability to undertake significant infrastructural projects?

As someone who has lived pretty firmly in both parts of the West: no, not really.

Denmark, where I live now, has the luxury of commanding massive taxes from its citizens to finance its projects, all while putting a pittance of its share to its military. Denmark is also much, much, smaller than the US so the red tape that would be apparent at the size of the US is less apparent at the size of 6 million people.

We also overspend on grotesque, predatory contracting firms, just as the US does, to finance our public projects.

Re: China completes green belt around Taklamakan Desert

#55

Post by maxglute »

baserev wrote: post #48
maxglute wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>4000 ghost railway stations lol wut. There are ~5000 rail way stations TOTAL, ~1000 HSR, of which ~30 are considered ghost, i.e. 3% wasted stations on size of PRC network is stupid efficient. The system is generating positive profit with increasing utilization, hence expansion.

Citations please

Sorry, not doing homework/playing this game for someone that posts FLQ media.

This is basic 101 level googlable information.

Re: China completes green belt around Taklamakan Desert

#56

Post by maxglute »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #46
bloopernova wrote: post #2

It took 46 years to create the 1,900 mile, ~3060 km green belt around the 130,350 square miles (337,600 km2) desert. The linked article doesn't say anything about negatives, but the positives seem to be very beneficial for the area. I really wish other major powers would commit to similar projects. In my opinion, communities need larger goals to strive towards, to provide a sense of continued belonging and reinvestme…

> wish other major powers would commit to similar projects American engineering around the Mississippi River is massive. As is our hydroelectric engineering, and reclamation of urban and farm land. We don’t really have a lot of fucked territory that needs to be terraformed.

IMO Missippi shipping good example of lack of commitment. Low water levels already curtailing barge activity. It's a massive effort, but not really sufficient.

Re: China completes green belt around Taklamakan Desert

#57

Post by kjkjadksj »

jmyeet wrote: post #10

China may well have replaced the USSR as the latest bogeyman to keep attention away from whatever war crimes the US is currently supporting or committing, but all I can think about is the ~$10T spent on and millions of lives lost to the "War on Terror" and what could've been done with the money instead. I mean just look at the high speed rail transformation in 16 years [1]. China is not without its issues but neither…

Maybe we should have figured out a defense justification for high speed rail. That’s the justification for the interstate highway effort at least initially. Have to move tanks and APCs when shit hits the fan. HSR on the other hand has no advocate. You have the few people who nerd out about it standing against the profitable status quo with most people not really caring.

Re: China completes green belt around Taklamakan Desert

#59

Post by JumpCrisscross »

maxglute wrote: post #56
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> wish other major powers would commit to similar projects American engineering around the Mississippi River is massive. As is our hydroelectric engineering, and reclamation of urban and farm land. We don’t really have a lot of fucked territory that needs to be terraformed.

IMO Missippi shipping good example of lack of commitment. Low water levels already curtailing barge activity. It's a massive effort, but not really sufficient.

> not really sufficient

Our barge use is crippled by the Jones Act, not water levels. Make it lucrative to ship by barge and the incentives will get the levels back up.

Re: China completes green belt around Taklamakan Desert

#60

Post by maxglute »

baserev wrote: post #58
maxglute wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry, not doing homework/playing this game for someone that posts FLQ media. This is basic 101 level googlable information.

[flagged]

I don't need to waste time to post citations for basic information on the subject matter. If people want to verify something so basic, they can do it trivially. Versus trying to find supporting evidence for lol 4000 ghost rail way stations.
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