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I flew across Northern China 5 years ago, you could see open cast mines next to power plants to the horizon .... but they were rapidly filling in the space with
by Taniwha 2y ago
I flew across Northern China 5 years ago, you could see open cast mines next to power plants to the horizon .... but they were rapidly filling in the space with wind generation 1000s of turbines using the coal plant's transmission lines - they knew that the pollution drifting east to Beijing wasn't sustainable
- lasc4r 2y agoThere's something to be said for a dictatorship that at the very least thinks climate change is real.
- chii 2y agoThe impetus is more to ensure people don't get pollution in the big cities (which indirectly helps with climate change, but that was never the real goal). Not that this is a problem.
- pclmulqdq 2y agoAir quality issues in Beijing have nothing to do with climate change. China is not acting as though they care about CO2 emissions at all.
- feedforward 2y agoDictatorship of the proletariat
- Animats 2y agoA few decades ago, a French minister was being interviewed on US TV about the French nuclear power program. He was asked how France had managed to get all their nuclear plants approved and built. He said, "We had a vote in the Chamber of Deputies. I understand you do things differently in America."
- Yeul 2y agoWe've been conditioned to think democracy is the perfect form of government but why did people vote for Trump? Why in my country does less than 50% of the voters show up for elections? The masses just want food and security.
- axpvms 2y agoWhat conditioning? I've always heard it described as the "least bad" form of government. It definitely beats having a communist dictatorship though.
- ben_w 2y ago"Vox Populi, Vox Dei": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vox_Populi%2C_Vox_Dei https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vox_Populi%2C_Vox_Dei While I personally think of democracy as "the worst except for everything else we've tried", there's plenty who speak as if it's tautologically the best.
- jlkuester7 2y agoIn the historical context I would see "Vox Populi, Vox Dei" as intentionally juxtaposed against the "Divine Right of Kings" (the leading political philosophy in Europe for the last few thousand years). I think there is a TON of interesting discussion to be had on the best ways to _implement_ democracy, but locating the source of political power directly in the people who are governed seems like a pretty solid idea to me... I have not been able to come up with anything better.
- quintushoratius 2y agoThe problem with giving people choices is that sometimes they make the wrong choice.
- vacuity 2y agoIndeed. Democracy is "least bad" because it at least allows people to choose, but don't be surprised if they make the wrong choice. Evidently one problem outweighs the other, and for advocates for democracy it's that the latter issue is outweighed (the former is that the people have no choice, this is people making the wrong choice). If men were angels, a nominally totalitarian government could be absolutely ideal.
- obscurette 2y agoChina just builds any energy sources it possibly can.