Where to start, where to start? Human rights? Political oppression? The torture and execution of political dissenters? Tibet? The fact that China has propped up North Korea for decades? Justin seems to be under the impression that the Chinese dictatorship is a benevolent green steward. So how about this: just a few years later, the environmental watchdog Global Carbon Project reports that we will actually see an increase in emissions in China, not a decrease, leading to a new all-time global high.
Then there’s this, from a new report by Greenpeace and the staunchly pro-socialist organization the Socialist Project detailing China’s “unprecedented environmental crisis”:
Chinese cities are blanketed by thick smog, and images of people wearing masks or respirators are common. Only 1 per cent of China’s urban population breathe air considered safe by European Union standards. The consequences are real with a million people dying every year in China as a result of air pollution . . . Some cities have managed to reduce air pollution but this is often only through moving dirty industry away from urban areas . . . A September 2017 report by Greenpeace East Asia showed that millions of Chinese people use water that isn’t safe to drink . . . Coal plants and mining consume billions of cubic metres of water, leading to shortages downstream . . . Between 2011 and 2013, according to the historian Vaclav Smil, China poured more concrete than the US did in the entire 20th century.
So how’s all that amazing solar energy going, Justin?