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> data from NASA satellites has revealed a counterintuitive source for much of this new foliage: China and India. The totally unnecessary framing with "counter
by pphysch 3y ago
> data from NASA satellites has revealed a counterintuitive source for much of this new foliage: China and India.
The totally unnecessary framing with "counterintuitive" here reveals much about the epistemological crisis of the West. Poor, developing countries are only allowed to care about the environment insofar as it kneecaps their development and economic growth.
- lovich 3y agoIs it an “epistemological crisis” to expect other human civilizations to act like we did? The west didn’t have an eye towards environmental health while we rapidly industrialized, I don’t think it’s a negative to be surprised that these countries are seemingly doing better than we did on this one metric. Personally my response upon reading that line was “kudos to them”
- philipov 3y agoIt's not an epistemological crisis, but it does expose a blind-spot in not understanding the principle of Uneven and Combined Development (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uneven_and_combined_development https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uneven_and_combined_developmen...). It assumes the conditions are the same in both cases, but they very much are not. I would not expect people to act the same way in the face of radically different developmental circumstances. And the circumstances of a country rapidly industrializing today are radically different than of those during the first period of rapid industrialization. The incentives/pressures, demographics, technology, geopolitical landscape, and resources available to newly industrializing countries are all completely different.
- pphysch 3y ago> Is it an “epistemological crisis” to expect other human civilizations to act like we did? Yes, absolutely. Incuriosity and chauvinism towards non-Western civilizations, in the face of overwhelming evidence, is at the root of this crisis.
- itishappy 3y agoYou may be reading a bit too much into this. It's counterintuitive specifically because the results are a byproduct of their economic growth, and not due to environmental policy.
- pphysch 3y agoYou're proving my point by implying the two are mutually exclusive. China successfully regenerating forests and reversing desertification will certainly have (very long-term) economic benefit, but saying it is therefore "not environmental policy" is absurd.