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China has added forest the size of Texas since 1990

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

#171
post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A basic trencher is little more than a push lawnmower frame with a chain saw attached. Not enormous industrial equipment, but still a large boost to productivity vs a shovel.

I think the basic trencher would almost certainly still count as manual labor? Nobody is expecting that they are out there digging with bare hands.

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

#172
> Drawing on national reports prepared for FAO, ...

> Since 2005, the FRA has relied on data provided by a network of officially nominated national correspondents...

My understanding is that these reports are heavily based on data reported by respective governments. I think "officially nominated national correspondents" means bureaucrats of different governments.

But the governments of Russia, India, China are all known to lie. A lot. About a lot of things. I would know.

My default stance is to be skeptical of such claims based on national reports. Independent verification using satellite imagery seems like a better approach.

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

#173
post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

China has 4 times the population. In any rational divvying up of the world's total emissions allowance by country China's share would be 4 times that of the US, but they are only emitting twice what the US is emitting. Both are over their fair share, but the US is over by a larger factor so is farther behind on getting to where they need to be. (This is not taking into account trade. Divvying up the world emissions b…

> If there is trade the best way to handle it is probably to count the emissions for making things in country X that get consumed in country Y as being emissions in Y. With that correction China comes out even better). Why?

Because China makes more things that are used in the US than the other way around.

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

#174
post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

China has 4 times the population. In any rational divvying up of the world's total emissions allowance by country China's share would be 4 times that of the US, but they are only emitting twice what the US is emitting. Both are over their fair share, but the US is over by a larger factor so is farther behind on getting to where they need to be. (This is not taking into account trade. Divvying up the world emissions b…

> If there is trade the best way to handle it is probably to count the emissions for making things in country X that get consumed in country Y as being emissions in Y. With that correction China comes out even better). Why?

A huge portion of China's emissions come from making things for people that aren't in China. The argument is that if a Chinese factory makes only widgets used in the US, those emissions from the Chinese factory are probably more accurately counted as US emissions.

Its like saying that you are 0 emissions because you have an electric car with no tailpipe while ignoring where the electricity is coming from.

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

#176
post #60

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

Ecologically speaking, the US is an absolute monster of a nightmare. The American carbon footprint is incredible.

Not intending to make this political, but it's a relevant point to consider: we should also take into account the carbon footprint of all the bombs that were dropped by America and its proxies into the equation as well.

The environmental impact from these would be immense, I'd imagine.

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

#177
post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The US was positioned to leverage technological and economic advantages to embrace and profit massively off of next gen energy infrastructure. It is a tragedy of our era that anti-conservationalism was able to gain such a strong foothold in the body politic.

> embrace and profit massively off of next gen energy infrastructure Our children’s generation will never forgive us for abandoning nuclear energy abundance. Truly a crime against humanity.

That will be one of many things they will not forgive us for. Alas most of us in developed countries have treated the world as a dumping ground for our excess.

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

#178
post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The US was positioned to leverage technological and economic advantages to embrace and profit massively off of next gen energy infrastructure. It is a tragedy of our era that anti-conservationalism was able to gain such a strong foothold in the body politic.

> embrace and profit massively off of next gen energy infrastructure Our children’s generation will never forgive us for abandoning nuclear energy abundance. Truly a crime against humanity.

I used to be a true believe in nuclear (in the 80s, 90s). Recently, I thought (with good justification) that it's a folly to build out nuclear if renewables' economics continue on the current path.

Recently, I wonder if a nuclear winter (I mean this in the cold war context) is likely enough to make renewables massively less efficient. If the current administration were more competent, I'd assume that they are pushing non-renewables for that reason.

But then again, after a nuclear winter, our energy consumption will probably drop to near zero (the population being near zero), so it probably wouldn't matter either way.

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

#179
post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The US was positioned to leverage technological and economic advantages to embrace and profit massively off of next gen energy infrastructure. It is a tragedy of our era that anti-conservationalism was able to gain such a strong foothold in the body politic.

> It is a tragedy of our era that anti-conservationalism was able to gain such a strong foothold in the body politic. It was the entirely predictable result of the policies we adopted. You don't get to be sloppy and shortsighted and then sail off into the sunset without consequences. Kicking the industrial layers of the economic pyramid overseas and telling people to learn to code is what you do when you want a quick…

Humans think on a scale of seconds, minutes, hours, and days. Nature operates at a scale of years, decades, centuries, and millennia. This mismatch is our biggest problem.

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

#180
post #144

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.

Bill Gates is fundamentally anthrophilic, so his concern is above all human suffering. I think that’s a valid viewpoint, but also shortsighted; keeping this planet habitable will require tough decisions and sacrifices, and should stay the utmost priority, out of sheer necessity.

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