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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

#391

Post by csomar »

andrewflnr wrote: post #251
yanhangyhy wrote: post #233

I don’t know how it is in other countries, but nearly thirty years ago when I was in elementary school, a Chinese propaganda slogan stuck with me: “If you want to get rich, build roads first; have fewer children, plant more trees.” Every part of that slogan has been put into action, continuously, for decades. Although low birth rates have now become a problem, back then it seemed like a solution. Xi Jinping may be a…

I would really respect the hell out of the nation of China if it wasn't for the authoritarianism and imperialism.

We can argue and discuss the authoritarianism of China (and state control). But imperialism? Really?

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

#392

Post by jl6 »

samarthr1 wrote: post #377
catmanjan wrote: post #353

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>food is largely a solved problem It really isn't...

*logistics of food is not solved?

Neither production nor logistics is solved at all. We have bought ourselves time, largely by racking up environmental debt on our planetary credit card. Food is still massively dependent on fossil fuel consumption (machinery, transport, fertilizer).

The good news is that the answer is to reduce the cost and carbon impact of energy production, and we’re making great progress here, but we cannot afford to take our foot off the gas, because although Ehrlich was wrong about the timing, he wasn’t wrong in his fundamental observation that the Earth has a finite carrying capacity.

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

#393

Post by yanhangyhy »

ggm wrote: post #388
coffeebeqn wrote: post #376

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> who is incompetent I just hope we never go back to Mao-levels of incompetence

Must.. resist.. temptation.. Killing all sparrows, compared to defunding vaccine science in the wreckage of a pandemic.. Village Steel making compared to literally cancelling construction projects for advanced wind turbines

Maybe this is a surprise. Nowadays, young people are increasingly fond of Mao. He wasn’t a perfect person, but he spent his entire life exploring communism and trying to finally eliminate wealth inequality and privileged classes. Older people might not like him as much, because they were more influenced by the West and dislike China’s system more. But with China’s rise and Trump’s hypocrisy, I can predict that Mao will become increasingly popular in China.

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

#394

Post by hunglee2 »

somenameforme wrote: post #322
andrewflnr wrote: post #251

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would really respect the hell out of the nation of China if it wasn't for the authoritarianism and imperialism.

Not to be coy, but what do you mean by that? The reason I ask is because I think many of us use these terms, but without ever thinking about exactly which behaviors we're critiquing, or how they relate to what we truly value. For instance both the Roman and Greek Empires deserve immense respect, yet they were both often imperial empires ruled by dictators. The same is no less true of many societies that played key ro…

this is the way - 'multi-polarity' is another word for 'diversity' which is another way to understand resiliency. We have seen in recent days what over dependence on single point of failure looks like (AWS outage), so from a species level perspective, it is better that we have many different forms of organisation and narrative. We just have to ensure that these narratives are not evangelical and intolerant!

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

#395

Post by otikik »

somenameforme wrote: post #340
Arainach wrote: post #284

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Somehow" we did that back when we believed in a strong federal government working for the benefit of the people. It's no wonder that we lost the ability after decades of anti-government propaganda and regulatory capture.

It's not that people turned against the government just randomly. Who was the last genuinely socially motivated President we had? I idealize JFK, but I think that's largely because of his charisma, how he ended, and obviously the space program. Yet how did he not just immediately condemn and completely dismantle the entire CIA when the proposal for Operation Northwoods [1] reached his desk, and was one signature away…

> literally less than nothing to show for it

That’s not true! Some guys got really really rich with it. So, working as indented.

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

#396

Post by dgfl »

darkmarmot wrote: post #380
shubhamjain wrote: post #348

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Partially, yes! Population is #1 strain on resources. However, the political climate around 1970s was more like population would create large scale food shortages, famines, and without interventions, population would keep on growing forever. We at least now know that population peaks with prosperity, and food is largely a solved problem.

We're on the verge of ecological collapse, undergoing an insane mass extinction event with ocean acidification and methane release going off the charts. I can't even begin to conceive of your reality.

The point is that this is not what people were worried about in the 70s. Even halving the population we’d still have all of these problems. While we obviously don’t suffer from famine, at least not globally.

Those predictions have completely failed and were replaced by new issues.

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

#397

Post by wraptile »

gchamonlive wrote: post #196
hereme888 wrote: post #153

Wise to use forests to contain deserts. Problem is that China still plays a big role in importing deforestation-linked commodities and fund overseas projects that exacerbate global loses. There are low tree survival rates and falsified coverage, like the Three-North Shelterbelt program which is plagued by inefficiencies over its 40 years of operation. It's also hard to balance afforestation without causing scarcity o…

Honest question, aren't coral reefs also very sensitive to climate change? How much of that loss is because of regional activities and how much is due to global environmental changes?

Regional activties is a huge factor, much bigger than global imo.

For example, South China Sea coastlines from Vietnam and China side are basically completely dead. There zero ocean environmental awareness in both countries and it's all about just devouring all ocean creatures with no self awareness.

This is especially apparent if you take a look at the other side of the same sea. Philipines coasts are absolutely beautiful, full of life (well as much as you can get these days). Huge conservation efforts and really strong indigenous culture that respects the ocean made much more difference than global warming ever could.

Completely different views from two vastly different regional activities.

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

#398

Post by hunglee2 »

devsda wrote: post #262
yanhangyhy wrote: post #233

I don’t know how it is in other countries, but nearly thirty years ago when I was in elementary school, a Chinese propaganda slogan stuck with me: “If you want to get rich, build roads first; have fewer children, plant more trees.” Every part of that slogan has been put into action, continuously, for decades. Although low birth rates have now become a problem, back then it seemed like a solution. Xi Jinping may be a…

> a Chinese propaganda slogan stuck with me: “If you want to get rich, build roads first; have fewer children, plant more trees.” Why call it propaganda though ? That doesn't sound like a biased, deceptive or misleading policy. It hasn't been thought through much which is universally common for some govt policies everywhere, but it results have been positive for the most part ?

propaganda is not necessarily a lie, it's more a call to action (which can sometimes be a lie)

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

#400

Post by otikik »

piperswe wrote: post #383
vishnugupta wrote: post #314

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m really curious to better understand what aspects of China’s government would hurt your day to day life. From what I read online the people there are free to rant and get things fixed. Their local government representative is held accountable if the people in his/her province are unhappy. Not too different from a typical democratic setup I guess? But this could be off because I don’t know anyone personally there.

I mean, here are the obvious for this minority member: - My marriage is invalid in China - There are multiple clinics that can prescribe me gender-affirming care with little gatekeeping in my city (for now at least). My understanding is that there is significantly more gatekeeping in gender-affirming care in China - The government actively censors discourse related to my sexual orientation and gender identity While i…

> for now at least

So much in such few words. It sucks immensely.

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