Climate fears prompt energy U-turn in China

[phantom power]

(Saw this posted in "Science" forum, but thought it would be a good topic here, too)

China has abruptly slowed and halted work on building 22 major dams and power stations in a dramatic greening of the policies of the world's most populous nation.

The surprise move - one of the most dramatic ever undertaken by any government - arises from rapidly growing environmental concern in China. It calls the bluff of President George Bush, who has cited growing pollution in China as justification for refusing to join the Kyoto Protocol, which enters into force on Wednesday.

Last week Tony Blair went out of his way to welcome China's readiness to take "a real lead" in combating global warming. In the first instance of its kind, the Chinese State Environment Protection Agency laid down that the projects - which cover 13 of the country's provinces and are worth a total of £7.5bn - should not proceed until their impact on the environment had been reviewed. Among the halted projects is an important power facility at the highly controversial Three Gorges dam on the Yangtse River.

Observers attribute the move to growing interest in the environment by premier Wen Jiabao and other national leaders. Many of the children of top Chinese politicians and officials are members of the environmental pressure groups that are thriving at the country's top universities.

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/environment/story.jsp?story=610569

[Downtown Hound]

1. How do you like that?

Communist China is more responsible than our government. Damn you Bush. You are an absolute disgrace!

[phantom power]

2. China demonstrates quite a bit more environmental responsibility

than we do. Or, so it seems to me. I've always been impressed at their initiative in heading off their population explosion. Their commitment to nuclear energy is also worth of some praise.

The pattern I see is that even though they're far from perfect, they take environmental problems seriously, and implement real solutions, unlike us.

On a tangent: I've noticed that many people refer to "Communist China", or "Red China". Why not just "China"? Is there some other China that I'm not aware of?

[Downtown Hound]

3. It's mainly a reference to how the right is so critical of communism

you know, "Those damn commies" and so forth. But here's a communist country that is actually more globally responsible than Bush is. Just pointing out the irony.

[Boomer]

4. Misleading impression

>> China demonstrates quite a bit more environmental responsibility <<

China has some devastating ecological problems caused by unregulated toxic waste disposal into rivers and lakes. In its zeal to promote economic growth, big business has been allowed to dump chemicals with impunity. China's awareness is growing precisely because of the mistakes they've made and the regions that are experiencing increasing mortality and diseases rates linked to industrial pollution.

Don't kid youself, they have a LONG way to go yet.

[Boomer]

5. Not even a close second to the US

Bush is trying to dismantle our protections, but China needs them even more than we do. They're very late to this effort and have more of mess to clean up than the US.