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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

#421

Post by throwup238 »

Unearned5161 wrote: post #410
zdragnar wrote: post #379

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The predictions of Ehrlich in "the population bomb" and the club of rome were undone within a few years with the "green revolution" which saw massive increases in food production. Ehrlich in particular was suggesting mass starvation by the 1980's. Conceivably, it is possible that too many people will cause problems, but nothing like what they actually predicted has come to pass.

I encourage you to revisit what you know about the club of rome and what was actually published in the Limits to Growth paper. We have been disturbingly on track for a lot of the variables that were of interest back then in the “business as usual” model. People tend to dismiss anything and everything around resource constraint thinking by doing the quick Ehrlich quip, and never really dig deeper into where people lik…

What were those variables?

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

#422

Post by grumpy-de-sre »

yanhangyhy wrote: post #393
ggm wrote: post #388

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 wi…

It's worth acknowledging that Mao became increasingly erratic with age. Some of his early achievements are still very much seen in a positive light (eg. as a nation builder).

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

#423

Post by FooBarWidget »

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 ?

Not all cultures/countries/languages have a negative connotation of the word "propaganda". In Chinese, in most contexts, the word is usually much more neutral, closer to "publicity".

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

#424

Post by tossandthrow »

shubhamjain wrote: post #333
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…

> Although low birth rates have now become a problem, back then it seemed like a solution. They haven't, imo. I am from India, and I have been hearing for the last two decades how we have avoided same mistakes as China and the latter is headed for a demographic collapse. China is only marching forward, and focusing more on automation to hedge its bets. While overpopulation in India has choked almost every city in Ind…

The main issue with a demographic decline is that fewer people can live of their wealth.

This is in particular a problem for the older generation.

But if you are not a big believer in retirement, then there are no issues with demographic shifts.

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

#425

Post by coldtea »

shubhamjain wrote: post #333
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…

> Although low birth rates have now become a problem, back then it seemed like a solution. They haven't, imo. I am from India, and I have been hearing for the last two decades how we have avoided same mistakes as China and the latter is headed for a demographic collapse. China is only marching forward, and focusing more on automation to hedge its bets. While overpopulation in India has choked almost every city in Ind…

Overpopulation is not the problem of India. Mindset towards public areas and public behavior is - and the very much active in practice caste system, still excluding millions from full participation in all of society.

And inversely, demographic collapse if fertility falls will be a problem, just because it will hit after 2065 doesn't mean it's something to ignore.

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

#426

Post by coldtea »

tossandthrow wrote: post #424
shubhamjain wrote: post #333

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Although low birth rates have now become a problem, back then it seemed like a solution. They haven't, imo. I am from India, and I have been hearing for the last two decades how we have avoided same mistakes as China and the latter is headed for a demographic collapse. China is only marching forward, and focusing more on automation to hedge its bets. While overpopulation in India has choked almost every city in Ind…

The main issue with a demographic decline is that fewer people can live of their wealth. This is in particular a problem for the older generation. But if you are not a big believer in retirement, then there are no issues with demographic shifts.

There are MANY issues with a demographic decline, "that fewer people can live of their wealth" is the least of it.

Less productive hands (60 year olds are not as productive as 20 and 30 year olds, especially in any industrial and labor intensive field, but also in intellectual ones - who would have thought?). More older people in need of health support. Less dynamic society. Slowing economy.

Beyond some (not very low) point it's also a self-reinforcing feedback point to relatively quick (in historical term) elimination of a whole people.

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

#428

Post by HexPhantom »

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…

Wild how slogans from school can stick with us for life

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

#429

Post by TiredOfLife »

tomhow wrote: post #390
TiredOfLife wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Please avoid generic tangents and flamebait on HN. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

It's neither of those. If I plant a tree near my house, but cut down all of my neighbor trees, it would show that I have planted one tree while my neighbors none.

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

#430

Post by coldtea »

shubhamjain wrote: post #348
GolfPopper wrote: post #345

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Just like 1970s claim "overpopulation will destroy the planet" turned out to be exaggerated Seems to me like that prediction is pretty on track.

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.

>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.

All of those things came to be - and we're on track for food shortages and famines too with the environmental crisis.

The latter has the qualifier "without interventions". The interventions just happened (widespread acceptance of abortion, "1 child per family", increased neoliberalization attack leading to less people being able to afford to start a family, cultural changes around marrying, loneliness epidemic, etc).

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