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Environmentalism has always been a cause of the (mostly, as now, center- rather than radical-) left. This absolutely is not true. Who is, by a massive margin,

Environmentalism has always been a cause of the (mostly, as now, center- rather than radical-) left. This absolutely is not true. Who is, by a massive margin, the top polluting nation right now? Communist China. The Soviets did plenty of environmental damage also. Meanwhile the Western capitalist countries are all on a downward trend for emissions. The “rapid industrialisation at any cost” approach is an essential hallmark of socialism, always has been. Human lives are of no importance to it, let alone plants or animals.

dragonwriter 7y ago
> > Environmentalism has always been a cause of the (mostly, as now, center- rather than radical-) left. > This absolutely is not true. Yes, it's true. > Who is, by a massive margin, the top polluting nation right now? Per capita? The top three (and they are very close to each other, with a decent gap to number 4) are Saudi Arabia, Australia, and the US. > Communist China Sure, the PRC is high in aggregate for the same reason that, say, Qatar is low in aggregate. (OTOH, Qatar is pretty high per capita.) Also, even if the ROC was as bad as, say, the US, I don't think anyone has ever described the ROC as center-left. > The “rapid industrialisation at any cost” approach is an essential hallmark of socialism No, it's a hallmark of underdeveloped countries seeking to escape or protect against foreign domination, whether there governments are communist, right-wing nationalist, or anything else. It's also a hallmark of unrestrained capitalism; the downward trend in Western mixed economies is a result of center-left environmentalist interest restraining capitalism.