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It feels weird when ever I read stuff where China is doing things to improve or protect the environment where as US is doing the opposite. Like we are living in

It feels weird when ever I read stuff where China is doing things to improve or protect the environment where as US is doing the opposite. Like we are living in a mirror world.

tonyedgecombe 9y ago
America will catch on eventually.
- boubiyeah 9y ago
  Not if morons like Trump keep getting elected, no.
  - batushka 9y ago
    Hold on buddy, just 8 yrs left
seanmcdirmid 9y ago
I moved from china (Beijing) to the USA (LA) for the much cleaner air. Ya, parallel universe for sure, it's like comparing mordor to the shire, where the former is freaking out over its horrible pollution problem while the latter doesn't notice anything wrong.
- FullMtlAlcoholc 9y ago
  People in LA, and Californians in general do care about pollution. After all, it is one of the birthplaces of the modern environmental movement in the US. Despite its urban sprawl, LA has one of the lowest emissions per capita in the US, lower than nyc even. The pollution tends to accumulate due to it's geography, being that the city is in a basin instead of dispersing. Tear down the Santa Monica and San Gabriel mountains, and the air quality would be greatly improved.
  - nerdponx 9y ago
    And I suspect that similar reasons of geography lead to New Yorkers not caring about pollution as much as they should. From what little I know about weather, all of the pollution in New York City gets blown right out into the Atlantic
    - NikolaeVarius 9y ago
      Except NY/NYC has extremely low greenhouse gas production per capita. I am aware this is not equivalent to all pollution, but its asinine to claim that New Yorkers don't care. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_by_carbon_dioxide_emissions https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_by_carbon_...
  - seanmcdirmid 9y ago
    I was being a bit sarcastic, but ya, you are completely right. My point really was that the US isn't falling behind, China just has much larger problems to deal with ATM and so they are beginning to take the environment seriously. Both LA and Beijing have similar topological bowl and inversion problems. Tear down the western and northern hills in Beijing, and the air quality would also be greatly improved.
    - sigi45 9y ago
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_carbon_dioxide_emissions_per_capita https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_carbon_di... So yeah no. USA on place 12, Germany 38 and China is at 55. Better list: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_carbon_dioxide_emissions https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_carbon_di...
      - seanmcdirmid 9y ago
        Carbon dioxide doesn't mean shit when the current PM2.5 AQI outside is 200 or 300+. You are talking about a global problem, I'm referring to the local one that will give you lung cancer and not just cause sea levels to rise.
richdougherty 9y ago
It's weird… like how really sick people care more about medical treatment than moderately sick people. ;)
pulse7 9y ago
China has a long way to go and when it will come there it will have an impact on costs...
- tim333 9y ago
  Renewables keep dropping in price. By the time it comes it may not cost that much. I was in Beijing in 1983 and the air was clean and everyone rode bicycles with almost zero cars. They could do that although it wouldn't fix the steel plants...
avar 9y ago
How is the US not improving as well? Renewable energy usage went up from ~9% to ~13% from 2002 to 2013[1]. The growth in photovoltaics continues[2]. The portion of electric cars as part of the fleet is going up[3] etc. It is true that the US could be doing better, but it's not doing the opposite of what China is doing when it comes to energy & environmental improvements. 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renewable_energy_in_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renewable_energy_in_the_United... 2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Growth_of_photovoltaics https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Growth_of_photovoltaics 3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_car_use_by_country https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_car_use_by_country
- mattmanser 9y ago
  Trump just pulled out of the Paris climate accord. It was in the news for days?
  - AlgorithmicTime 9y ago
    Until that actually causes the US to stop increasing the proportion of renewable energy, I'm skeptical it's an issue.
  - Shivetya 9y ago
    A fake treaty based on hype and slogans. whose temperature goals when overlaid with existing models shows no change. a fake treaty which allows each nation to set their own goals, change them at will, and no fines or similar mechanisms to insure compliance? A treaty which then veered off into rules on gender equity, biodiversity, disabled people, migrants, and a just transition of work forces. as in, it was propaganda act by politicians who used ignorance of what it stood for so you would think they were doing something about it when they were doing absolutely nothing. it had no power of enforcement because they could not even come to an agreement of who would be allowed to enforce it. when you let the fox set the rules the chickens outcome does not change. it was worse than no treaty. with no treaty people can be brought back to the table and iron out one that has limits that apply equally to all nations with an agreed to enforcement. (per capita limits are the means some countries used to skirt any impact they have on the world)

It feels weird when ever I read stuff where China is doing things to improve or protect the environment where as US is doing the opposite. Like we are living in a mirror world.

tonyedgecombe 9y ago

America will catch on eventually.

boubiyeah 9y ago
Not if morons like Trump keep getting elected, no.
- batushka 9y ago
  Hold on buddy, just 8 yrs left

seanmcdirmid 9y ago

I moved from china (Beijing) to the USA (LA) for the much cleaner air. Ya, parallel universe for sure, it's like comparing mordor to the shire, where the former is freaking out over its horrible pollution problem while the latter doesn't notice anything wrong.

FullMtlAlcoholc 9y ago
People in LA, and Californians in general do care about pollution. After all, it is one of the birthplaces of the modern environmental movement in the US. Despite its urban sprawl, LA has one of the lowest emissions per capita in the US, lower than nyc even. The pollution tends to accumulate due to it's geography, being that the city is in a basin instead of dispersing. Tear down the Santa Monica and San Gabriel mountains, and the air quality would be greatly improved.
- nerdponx 9y ago
  And I suspect that similar reasons of geography lead to New Yorkers not caring about pollution as much as they should. From what little I know about weather, all of the pollution in New York City gets blown right out into the Atlantic
  - NikolaeVarius 9y ago
    Except NY/NYC has extremely low greenhouse gas production per capita. I am aware this is not equivalent to all pollution, but its asinine to claim that New Yorkers don't care. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_by_carbon_dioxide_emissions https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_by_carbon_...
- seanmcdirmid 9y ago
  I was being a bit sarcastic, but ya, you are completely right. My point really was that the US isn't falling behind, China just has much larger problems to deal with ATM and so they are beginning to take the environment seriously. Both LA and Beijing have similar topological bowl and inversion problems. Tear down the western and northern hills in Beijing, and the air quality would also be greatly improved.
  - sigi45 9y ago
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_carbon_dioxide_emissions_per_capita https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_carbon_di... So yeah no. USA on place 12, Germany 38 and China is at 55. Better list: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_carbon_dioxide_emissions https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_carbon_di...
    - seanmcdirmid 9y ago
      Carbon dioxide doesn't mean shit when the current PM2.5 AQI outside is 200 or 300+. You are talking about a global problem, I'm referring to the local one that will give you lung cancer and not just cause sea levels to rise.

richdougherty 9y ago

It's weird… like how really sick people care more about medical treatment than moderately sick people. ;)

pulse7 9y ago

China has a long way to go and when it will come there it will have an impact on costs...

tim333 9y ago
Renewables keep dropping in price. By the time it comes it may not cost that much. I was in Beijing in 1983 and the air was clean and everyone rode bicycles with almost zero cars. They could do that although it wouldn't fix the steel plants...

avar 9y ago

How is the US not improving as well? Renewable energy usage went up from ~9% to ~13% from 2002 to 2013[1]. The growth in photovoltaics continues[2]. The portion of electric cars as part of the fleet is going up[3] etc. It is true that the US could be doing better, but it's not doing the opposite of what China is doing when it comes to energy & environmental improvements. 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renewable_energy_in_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renewable_energy_in_the_United... 2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Growth_of_photovoltaics https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Growth_of_photovoltaics 3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_car_use_by_country https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_car_use_by_country

mattmanser 9y ago
Trump just pulled out of the Paris climate accord. It was in the news for days?
- AlgorithmicTime 9y ago
  Until that actually causes the US to stop increasing the proportion of renewable energy, I'm skeptical it's an issue.
- Shivetya 9y ago
  A fake treaty based on hype and slogans. whose temperature goals when overlaid with existing models shows no change. a fake treaty which allows each nation to set their own goals, change them at will, and no fines or similar mechanisms to insure compliance? A treaty which then veered off into rules on gender equity, biodiversity, disabled people, migrants, and a just transition of work forces. as in, it was propaganda act by politicians who used ignorance of what it stood for so you would think they were doing something about it when they were doing absolutely nothing. it had no power of enforcement because they could not even come to an agreement of who would be allowed to enforce it. when you let the fox set the rules the chickens outcome does not change. it was worse than no treaty. with no treaty people can be brought back to the table and iron out one that has limits that apply equally to all nations with an agreed to enforcement. (per capita limits are the means some countries used to skirt any impact they have on the world)