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China has added forest the size of Texas since 1990

e360.yale.edu

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Re: China has added forest the size of Texas since 1990

#71

Post by munk-a »

legitster wrote: post #19
maerF0x0 wrote: post #3

My immediate thought, yeah isnt that because they don't really naturally have the kinds of softwoods forests good for making boards and paper? And until more recently they were taking recycled paper/fiber from america in empty shipping containers returning. The real news is that it's also slightly happening in other developed countries too, another rhetoric point towards Steven Pinker's concept that as nations get ri…

> Steven Pinker's concept that as nations get richer they become more environmentally conscious, cause they can afford to care about it. I think in this case it's more of a correlating factor. The countries struggling with deforestation have very little state capacity to enforce property rights or any sort of environmental regulations. Whereas in the developed world it's much easier to stop illegal logging or homeste…

I agree and would also add that food security is also a massive factor. With a high food insecurity clamping down on illegal expansion of farmland is politically toxic - but as land use efficiency rises and cities grow conservationalism becomes a much more important agenda to back.

People like nature - all things held equal we want to live in a beautiful natural world... but if that world comes at the cost of having food on the table. Whether that inefficiency is technologically, environmentally (e.g. New England's poor soil) or conflict driven doesn't significantly change public opinion.

Re: China has added forest the size of Texas since 1990

#72

Post by WorldPeas »

0cf8612b2e1e wrote: post #54
nkmnz wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same effect for half the work. Look up the videos on youtube, it's manual labor on very hard ground.

Why is it manual? If I had a mission to plant millions of trees, I am going to invest in a ditch witch.

assuming you're not joking, construction equipment is incredibly expensive for countries to whom profiting from importing it is not a "sure thing", doubly so if their roads are not developed. This is why a 2000s hummer in central America still costs as much as a nice modern car.

Re: China has added forest the size of Texas since 1990

#73

Post by mc32 »

gnarlouse wrote: post #58

I'm starting to think that we're the baddies.

During the same period the US also added 18MM acres and so has Canada, but additionally Russia, India and Europe have also net added forest… so the “baddies” are still Brazil, Indonesia and the democratic Republic of the Congo.

Re: China has added forest the size of Texas since 1990

#74

Post by kwanbix »

dumbledoren wrote: post #65
AuthAuth wrote: post #46

This sounds big but its less than the bare minimum required. Their coal emissions are insane. In my opinion its all anyone should be talking about when it comes to climate change.

Their emissions are the emissions of Western companies for whom they are doing manufacturing.

AS if they don't consume the products themselves with their 1.2 billion people?

My home country we are only 40 million. I am sure they consume much more than us.

Re: China has added forest the size of Texas since 1990

#75

Post by porknaut »

Waterluvian wrote: post #63
gnarlouse wrote: post #58

I'm starting to think that we're the baddies.

It’s becoming very hard to see China as the adversary and not the U.S. There isn’t even a pretend moral high ground anymore.

What does your comment have to do with ecology? Just because China plants trees (news flash, so does the US) doesn't erase the fact they are far and away the biggest emitter of carbon emissions and have high levels of pollution.

Glad they are trying to do good things though.

Re: China has added forest the size of Texas since 1990

#76

Post by quacked »

dumbledoren wrote: post #65
AuthAuth wrote: post #46

This sounds big but its less than the bare minimum required. Their coal emissions are insane. In my opinion its all anyone should be talking about when it comes to climate change.

Their emissions are the emissions of Western companies for whom they are doing manufacturing.

The global economy is so China-dependent it doesn't even make sense to talk about an individual country's emissions profile unless we look at their imports.

Re: China has added forest the size of Texas since 1990

#77

Post by marricks »

This and Bill Gates saying...

> “the doomsday outlook [on climate change] is causing much of the climate community to focus too much on near-term emissions goals, and it’s diverting resources from the most effective things we should be doing to improve life in a warming world.”

I guess it's cool there's something to be hopeful about, westerner's just seemed excited to make money off of melting ice in Greenland.

Re: China has added forest the size of Texas since 1990

#78

Post by lbrito »

AuthAuth wrote: post #46

This sounds big but its less than the bare minimum required. Their coal emissions are insane. In my opinion its all anyone should be talking about when it comes to climate change.

Can you tell everyone what their per capita emission is? While you're at it, compare that with the US per capita emissions. Also let us know the accumulated emissions for China and US in the last 50 years.

Thanks.

Re: China has added forest the size of Texas since 1990

#79

Post by jillesvangurp »

profsummergig wrote: post #44
jillesvangurp wrote: post #36

I've been binging a lot of videos on things like rewilding and other approaches that can be used to restore landscapes. The Chinese have successfully executed a number of large scale projects over the decades. They started this early. Where other countries talked about doing things, the Chinese went ahead and did those things. One of their projects is allowing them to undertake infrastructure projects in the desert.…

Do you know why the mounds with half-moon shapes? Why is it more effective than simply digging a circular hole in the ground?

The idea is that rain flows downhill, you dig the half moon shape to capture the water on the end without a ditch and then it sinks into the ditch instead of flowing unobstructed to the river and taking all soil with it.

It's an ancient practice that was forgotten and rediscovered. The beauty of this approach is that it shows results within a few short years. Basically in Africa if there's water, nature shows up and consumes it. So you get lush growth and rapid soil restoration. Trees, vegetables, etc. on what was a heavily eroded flood plain before.

It's easy to explain, the locals get why it works. And they get a very fast response from nature and all the produce and riches that come with that. And all they need is shovels and some elbow grease.

Re: China has added forest the size of Texas since 1990

#80

Post by mulmen »

lbrito wrote: post #78
AuthAuth wrote: post #46

This sounds big but its less than the bare minimum required. Their coal emissions are insane. In my opinion its all anyone should be talking about when it comes to climate change.

Can you tell everyone what their per capita emission is? While you're at it, compare that with the US per capita emissions. Also let us know the accumulated emissions for China and US in the last 50 years. Thanks.

Per capita emissions aren’t relevant to climate impact. Neither are relative emissions between countries. This is a global issue.
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