4 ms·

China is convinced.[1] The American public is convinced, although not as much as they probably should be.[2][3][4] The problem here is to convince world leader

China is convinced.[1] The American public is convinced, although not as much as they probably should be.[2][3][4] The problem here is to convince world leaders to actually do something. [1] http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-11-16/china-tells-trump-that-climate-change-is-no-hoax-it-invented http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-11-16/china-tell... [2] http://climatepublicopinion.stanford.edu/sample-page/opinions-in-the-states/ http://climatepublicopinion.stanford.edu/sample-page/opinion... [3] https://environment.yale.edu/poe/v2014/ https://environment.yale.edu/poe/v2014/ [4] http://www.gallup.com/poll/190010/concern-global-warming-eight-year-high.aspx http://www.gallup.com/poll/190010/concern-global-warming-eig...

strictnein 10y ago
China is convinced? Then China should tell China to stop building coal power plants. They burn slightly more coal than the rest of the world combined. http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/26/business/energy-environment/china-coal.html http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/26/business/energy-environmen...
- papercrane 10y ago
  > China is convinced? Then China should tell China to stop building coal power plants. You realise you're source says they're doing exactly that? "In guidelines released on Monday, China halted plans for new coal-fired power stations in many parts of the country, and construction of some approved plants will be postponed until at least 2018." They've also gone all in on solar, having more installed capacity than any other nation. They're far from perfect, but they've started to acknowledge the problem at least.
  - problems 10y ago
    Not only that, but they've taken all these steps while they're bringing hundreds of millions of people out of abject poverty doing sustenance farming and into cities. Cities where they want things like electricity and cars. Look at the history of the world, development like that is usually fueled by burning as many hydrocarbons as possible. It's very good to see a country able now to at least start to break away from that. The rapidly dropping price of solar, thanks in large part to China plays a big role in that.
- yellow_postit 10y ago
  Despite setbacks China is also actively building up more nuclear capacity, something I wish was taken more seriously in the US http://energypost.eu/china-2016-year-nuclear-power/ http://energypost.eu/china-2016-year-nuclear-power/
- hayavuk 10y ago
  China also has a sizable population to match.
kristopolous 10y ago
Biggest problem is that climate change aggressively challenges many foundations of capitalism and consumerism. That's a religion to some people. And this is akin to changing it.
- worldsayshi 10y ago
  Well in the end capitalism determines everyone's personal incomes. As long as the rich keep getting relatively richer and the population bigger the economy has to grow in order to leave at least near as much income for people in general as before.
- jules 10y ago
  Capitalism has been and will be an essential ingredient to solve the problem and switch to other sources of energy. The issue is that the costs to the global environment are not borne by the polluters. Put a price tag on pollution and the market will do the best it can.
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
yodsanklai 10y ago
Yes, people are convinced. But ask them to give up a little of their comfort and they start rioting. I see it in my (european) city, even smallish measures to restrict car usage lead to major contestations.

strictnein 10y ago

China is convinced? Then China should tell China to stop building coal power plants. They burn slightly more coal than the rest of the world combined. http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/26/business/energy-environment/china-coal.html http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/26/business/energy-environmen...

papercrane 10y ago
> China is convinced? Then China should tell China to stop building coal power plants. You realise you're source says they're doing exactly that? "In guidelines released on Monday, China halted plans for new coal-fired power stations in many parts of the country, and construction of some approved plants will be postponed until at least 2018." They've also gone all in on solar, having more installed capacity than any other nation. They're far from perfect, but they've started to acknowledge the problem at least.
- problems 10y ago
  Not only that, but they've taken all these steps while they're bringing hundreds of millions of people out of abject poverty doing sustenance farming and into cities. Cities where they want things like electricity and cars. Look at the history of the world, development like that is usually fueled by burning as many hydrocarbons as possible. It's very good to see a country able now to at least start to break away from that. The rapidly dropping price of solar, thanks in large part to China plays a big role in that.
yellow_postit 10y ago
Despite setbacks China is also actively building up more nuclear capacity, something I wish was taken more seriously in the US http://energypost.eu/china-2016-year-nuclear-power/ http://energypost.eu/china-2016-year-nuclear-power/
hayavuk 10y ago
China also has a sizable population to match.

kristopolous 10y ago

Biggest problem is that climate change aggressively challenges many foundations of capitalism and consumerism. That's a religion to some people. And this is akin to changing it.

worldsayshi 10y ago
Well in the end capitalism determines everyone's personal incomes. As long as the rich keep getting relatively richer and the population bigger the economy has to grow in order to leave at least near as much income for people in general as before.
jules 10y ago
Capitalism has been and will be an essential ingredient to solve the problem and switch to other sources of energy. The issue is that the costs to the global environment are not borne by the polluters. Put a price tag on pollution and the market will do the best it can.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]

deleted 10y ago

[deleted]

deleted 10y ago

[deleted]

yodsanklai 10y ago

Yes, people are convinced. But ask them to give up a little of their comfort and they start rioting. I see it in my (european) city, even smallish measures to restrict car usage lead to major contestations.