Guest essay by Eric Worrall
The Global Times, a mouthpiece of the Chinese Communist Party, has criticised US Republicans for obstructing President Biden’s support for Chinese climate leadership.
China becomes a leader in global war against climate change
By Wen Sheng Published: Jul 25, 2021 03:24 PM
China unveiled last week a maglev transportation system capable of supporting train routes which can run at 600 kilometers per hour, the fastest ground vehicle in the world to date. Using electro-magnetic force, the country’s self-developed maglev train would be able to shorten a travel between Beijing and Shanghai to just 2 hours.
The system belongs to a great technology and engineering breakthrough which, together with China’s 40,000-kilometer-long high-speed railways crisscrossing the country, will significantly reduce air flights and long-distance auto driving – drastically cutting fossil fuel use and carbon dioxide emissions, key targets in the battle against climate change.
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It’s time for all nations on this globe to get serious in mounting collective efforts to fight worsening climate catastrophe. The world did little during the past four years of former US president Donald Trump, whose administration refutes Earth’s atmospheric change calling it a conspiracy, although severe weather is causing an estimated $100 billion in economic damage to the US every year. Trump was more interested in fighting trade and technology wars than fighting a war to alleviate the world’s climate crisis.
The current Biden administration has vowed to do more than Trump, but his climate agenda and spending agenda is being obstructed at US Congress by the Republicans. Whether his much heralded $1.2 trillion infrastructure and climate bill could win the support of the legislators, remains uncertain after two months of debating and filibustering.
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In summary, China has been a global leader in fighting global climate crisis, which is posing increasing and imminent danger to Earth’s atmospheric security, biodiversity, and the very survival of our humankind. The world ought to take even bolder moves to arrest a continuous deterioration of climate change, while dragging feet will only cause more atmospheric ruins and human deaths.
Read more: https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202107/1229548.shtml
Why the sudden Chinese interest in climate change?
China has suffered two years running of severe flooding, so the leadership may be switching from arresting climate protesters, to viewing climate change as a convenient cover for their shoddy dam construction, and failed promises that all those expensive dams would help control flooding. For example, the following is a video of the disaster currently hitting Eastern China, a followup from the ongoing flood disaster in central China.
The benefit for the CCP blaming US Republicans for Chinese problems is people in China and some people in the USA might actually believe them; if the US mainstream media sides with China on this issue, it could bolster the CCPs increasingly tenuous credibility.
Utterly preposterous, like most PRC propaganda,but, given that legacy media in the United States is almost as ridiculous, it is a certainty that some legacy media reporter will accept this stinking pile of rhetorical excrement as credible.
I spent an hour and a half in a cab getting from Temple of Heaven to the airport in Beijing and once at the airport, the line to clear security was almost 2 hours and that was in the expedited line.
They should have maglev like in Shanghai. A short trip from the airport to the centre of the city.
What if the center of the city is not your goal?
Then you get to take the bus. Send a post card and let your friends know when you’re supposed to arrive.
They are talking cross country 600km/hr replacement for air flights. They didn’t reveal that the power needed is from burning coal.
Such trains also require very high stability (expensive, precision) roadbeds. You can’t tolerate many millimeters of movement or sag. I fear China may have some spectacular wrecks. Their dam engineering is a case in point. They tend to ‘go ahead with things’.
In a comment which is currently in moderation, I observe that the Democrats and Republicans are falling over each other in their attempts to be tough on China. I think the MSM is likely to fall in line.
Don’t count on it. IMO the MSM is owned by the Marxists.
And Hunter’s art work will sell to Chinese buyers. Just watch.
I hear tell his painting “Presidential Access No. 5” was sold to an anonymous art enthusiast for 5 million yuan. 😉
You are forgetting how we got to where we are now. The CCP has many democrats beholden to them. There is no going back for those people.
What’s the name of the Democrat who was sleeping with the Chinese spy. If I remember right, this guy now sits on the House Foreign Relations committee.
Something like Swalwell?
NO. He’s on the House INTEL committee, where he gets top level access to intel data.
But it’s OK since the alphabet soup guys have lots of “compromat” on him. They know how far he dipped his wang-wang into Fang Fang.
Swalwell is the guy. Rumor has it the Intelligence community has the gory details of Swalwell’s affair with Fang Fang.
So what we have here is Swalwell, a guy on the Intelligence Committee of the House, who is supposed to be overseeing the Intelligence community and the Intelligence community has the goods on Swalwell.
Swalwell better be a good boy or the Intelligence community may start leaking out embarrassing information about Swalwell.
Swalwell seems to be a favorite of Nancy Pelosi. Perhaps because he smears Trump at the drop of a hat.
Swalwell also seems to be spending a lot of money that isn’t his. He spent something like $20,000 at the Hotel where his wife is employed.
I wonder if his wife knows about Fang Fang?
Pres Clinton gifted China with American rocket and space technology as a whole piece. We may need visas for future moon visits.
Not to worry, nobody in the US really wants to go there anyway . . . you know, “been there, done that”.
There are actually a lot of people in the U.S. who want to return to the Moon. The U.S. government is currently funding an effort to do so.
Tom, I do believe you are making a fundamental mistake in implying that the U.S. government is equivalent to “a lot of people in the U.S.”
But maybe that’s just me.
And I heard last night that Chinese students going to U.S. universities, increased from 100,000 to 300,000 during the Obama-Biden administration.
That’s 300,000 univeristy positions that U.S. students don’t have available to them. This is a scandal. It’s America Last: The Democrat Moto.
OMG! Black really is white, up really is down, bears really are Catholic, and the Pope really does take dumps in the woods.
Somebody please make the appropriate adjustments to the narrative.
(Nuckin’ futz it is, mates. China leading? Nuckin’ futz!)
What China conveniently omits is the fact that its energy consumption, mainly through coal, actually increased by 2.1% last year, while the pandemic caused the global figure to drop 4.5%. As a result, its share of global emissions is now up to 31%. With leadership like this, climate change is even more of a guarantee than it was before.
With leadership like this,
climate change isincreasing emissions are even more of a guarantee thanit wasbefore.Fixed it for you.
Yes but they are emitting more CO2 more efficiently. That’s what we all should be doing.
If convoluted logic was an Olympic event, China would not only take Gold, but Platinum, Iridium, Osmium, Palladium and Rhodium as well after this effort.
I guess Confucius must’ve bought the farm in Great Leap Forward… 😉
I’ll bet the CCP is urinating on his grave.
The same way Christian values are deeply ingrained in our system, Confucian ideals are deeply ingrained in the Chinese system. Even if they could completely erase Confucius from the history books, it would take generations before his influence would fade.
Exactly so. Confucian ideals are as integral a part of Chinese life as Saṃsāra is to India.
The video in the post is worth watching to the end, it mentions a deep seated Chinese cultural tradition of overthrowing their rulers when the heavens demonstrate their displeasure at corruption and misrule with a series of natural disasters. This cultural expectation is probably making the CCP more nervous and jumpy than usual.
“a deep seated Chinese cultural tradition of overthrowing their rulers”. There has rarely been a greater need for tradition to assert itself.
On the other hand, if the Chinese make it clear that a very large fleet of coal-fired power stations is essential for “fighting climate change”, they may yet do the west a pile of good.
Yep, it’s called the Mandate of Heaven. Natural disasters are are often an augury of political upheaval in the Middle Kingdom. The CCP are right to be nervous.
I’m holding out for the mithril medal.
I am sure that the next generation maglev will run on wind.
There will be a solar panel attached to every segment of the train. It will only operate during the daylight.
And a big wind turbine on the front
Yep … China has the lead in reliable, economical, dependable energy — we should follow — better yet we should lead … https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1Iu9D5RhqQ
Built coal and nuclear power plants with small footprints.
CO2 is good for the environment. These are the footprints I’m worried about … https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOpOnaRMGCY
According to Wiki the worst natural disaster in terms of loss of life in recorded history was the 1931 China floods (CO2 ~305ppm).
The second worst was the Yellow River flood in 1887 (CO2 ~280 ppm).
Annual precipitation over China hasn’t changed much since 1900.
Chris,
You narrowly beat me to it with the 1931 Chinese floods.
From July to November 1931 in Central China,they are among the greatest natural disasters in history.
An estimated 3.7 million people drowned or died from famine and disease following the flooding.
Puts the relatively tiny number of current deaths in perspective,although I heard a TV News report the other day quoting a Chinese official stating that the floods and rain were the “ worst in a thousand years”(!).
Present human memory does not appear to extend beyond last week.Everything is “unprecedented”.
This from Dirt – The erosion of civilizations by David R. Montgomery and referring to the Yellow River (my bold):
I distinctly remember being taught, in the late 1950s, that CO2 was 280 ppm.
”In summary, China has been a global leader in fighting global climate crisis…”
LOL, I thought China has been a global leader in building coal fired power stations. I suppose, if a lie gets told often enough people believe.
If you delve deep enough into Chinese history you’ll find they invented everything from the wheel to nuclear fission and beyond.
Was there ever a court that decided China’s claims were more accurate than those of the old USSR?
China has not had a very good track record of invention in recent times. They have proven to be very good at stealing the ideas of others, though.
Their archeologists even reported that at one dig they found flush toilets!
A plant I visited 7 or 8 years go used a 1950s US patent. It was dirty and inefficient. Hot calcine from a coal fired rotary kiln was stockpiled in the open on the the plant grounds with no barriers or warning signs. You almost got a suntan walking by the cooling 1050°C mound. No heat recovery, etc.
I wonder if they had Thomas Crapper & Co. emblazoned on them …
So you might say that much of their technology is NOT state of the art?
”In summary, China has been a global leader in fighting global climate crisis…”
LOL, I thought China has been a global leader in building coal fired power stations.
I don’t see the connection ?
There IS no ‘global climate crisis’ only a manufactured ‘global political control crisis‘.
Global climate doesn’t even know or care that we exist !
Funny…
China on a coal Spree: https://e360.yale.edu/features/despite-pledges-to-cut-emissions-china-goes-on-a-coal-spree Lets look at the data and see who is being taken for a sucker:
Here are the number of Coal fired power stations in various countries with the 2nd numbers signifying planned and population size in brackets:
… 4 / …….0….UK…………… .(66,600,000)
….19 / …..60….Philippines … (108,100,000)
….56 / …..93….Turkey ………..(82,000,000)
….58 / …..26….South Korea ….(51,710,000)
….79 / …..24….South Africa … (58,560,000)
….90 / …..45….Japan ………..(126,300,000)
241 / ……4….US ……………(328,200,000)
…468 / ….27….EU ……………(446,000,000)
…589 / ..446…India ……… (1,366,000,000)
2,363 / 1171…China …….. (1,398,000,000)
China called on rich countries to “pay their debts” on climate change at global talks criticizing developed countries for not doing enough to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and provide finance to help poor countries do the same.
The Great Wall of Liars.
China may control their people and the world narrative on CC but they don’t control the world’s people. They can’t hide the truth of their emissions.
The typical global citizen cannot find China on a world map much less hold China accountable for anything.
This is worth repeating:
1585 was the last time that perihelion occurred before the austral summer solstice. Since then, it has been gradually occurring later in the calendar; now in early January. It moves later in the calendar about 17 days per thousand years at the present time.
So since 1585, the Southern Hemisphere has had ToA sunlight trending down and northern hemisphere trending up. The tropical North Atlantic is now getting 1.2W/sq.m more in April than it was in 1850. However in October, the ToA insolation over London is down by 0.7W/sq.m now compared with 1850. That means more water in the atmosphere when it is increasing and lower temperature when it comes out.
This is the process of glaciation. The tropical North Atlantic will continue to warm during the boreal summer for the next 12k years and the peak in atmospheric water will get later in the year. Peak atmospheric water now occurs in May. Meanwhile the higher northern latitudes will get cooler winters leading to more precipitation/snow. Fundamentally the amount of water in the atmosphere over the tropical North Atlantic is increasing and reaching its peak later each year. Then that water drops out faster as the boreal winters become colder.
What is occurring around the North Atlantic now is the early stages of the next period of glaciation. It should become obvious this millennium. It is fair to say that the next cycle of glaciation actually began in 1585 but not much sign of it yet.
The Indian monsoon will be increasing in intensity as well due to increasing insolation in the northern tropics. This May, both the Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal were at the ocean surface temperature limit over most of their extent:
https://earth.nullschool.net/#2021/05/11/1200Z/ocean/surface/currents/overlay=sea_surface_temp/orthographic=-279.22,0.31,569/loc=71.572,11.337
Weather models are worse than useless trash when it comes to using them to predict climate. They are good for weather forecasts up to a week ahead.
The long term trend (next 12k years) for the northern hemisphere is for warmer summers and cooler winters. That will cause an increase in precipitation over land and eventually more ice accumulation. Southern Hemisphere is becoming cooler in the austral summer and a little warmer during the austral winter. Australia should expect less rainfall. Less surface water will lead to warmer land temperature despite the lower summer insolation.
The Earth never tracks the same path relative to the sun. The ONLY constant with climate is change. Building windmills to placate the climate goods in the hope of ever balmy weather is a fools errand.
Domonising CO2 diverts attention from the cause of climate change. That should be criminal negligence.
The CCP are the gaslighting champions of the world.
China is certainly the Global Klimate Leader
Leading the world in CO2 production per country
Leading the world in Crappy Solar Panel production
Leading the world in Crappy EV production of knock off stolen designs
Leading the world in Crappy Electronics knock off production
Leading the world in Technology Intellectual Property theft
Leading the world in genealogical data procurement (23 and me, Ancestry DNA, etc.)
Leading the world in Global Pandemic Exportation
Not to mention the pretty girls, cheap alcohol and delicious food.
Can we build 600 new coal fired plants too?
The problem is that we don’t retire them fast enough.
China is the world leader building coal-fired power plants.
“Why the sudden interest in climate change”
Simple, to constrain all of the moralistic international countries and competition. China can expand its CO2 output until 2030.
Oznebust: “China can expand its CO2 output until 2030.”
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And when 2030 rolls around, China will say, “Whoops! We were just kidding about that CO2 reduction thing.”
China will say, “You were kidding us to call for CO2 reduction, but we let you try it.”
A “target” that will be “renegotiated” when it gets close – count on it.
China To Build The First Small Modular Nuclear Reactor – Of Course
“”The China National Nuclear Corporation has started building its first small modular reactor (SMR) on the island province of Hainan, at its Changjiang nuclear power plant. It will be China’s own Linglong One design, it will be about 125 MW, it will take about 5 years to build, and it will generate about a billion kWh/year.”
Without publicly acknowledging their strategy, many if not most of those nuclear technologists who are now promoting greater government and private investment in American small nuclear reactors (SMR’s) and in US-designed molten salt reactors are counting on the Biden administration to throttle competition from natural gas.
However, even if Biden takes a powerful stand against increased reliance on natural gas, and follows up on his rhetoric with real action, the fact still remains that neither an American SMR nor a molten salt reactor is likely to enter service much before 2030.
Why construct a system that is so resource demanding? A maglev train? Those coal fired power plants will be handy when their new rail system powers up.
They get the money back manifold because so many people use it. Numbers are scary in China. Everything is cheap inside China. So many customers.
2 birds,one stone. Blame the exterior threat and they are probably guessing that it’s going to get more Demonrats elected.
“China becomes a leader in global war against climate change” by building more coal fired plants than anyone else in the world! And if they continue to run them with scrubbers the added soot and sulphur with float up high and block the Sun!
Clearly the US should emulate the Chinese. It is only by following their heroic example that global heating and the climate emergency can be tackled.
The great US deficit in addressing this problem is that, unlike the Chinese, it is simply not constructing, planning or financing enough coal fired generating stations.
The Chinese under the heroic leadership of the Party have several thousand under construction or planning, and they are financing lots all over the world. They are mining and burning more coal than the rest of the world put together.
Only by following their leadership can the climate catastrophe be averted. I am calling today for Britain and the US immediately to reopen their closed coal mines, to start building more power stations, and contribute to the solution in the same way China is doing.
Yes, it is true, that even with their best efforts the UK could probably only manage to build about 10 new coal fired stations, and that is about one or two weeks construction for the Chinese, who are way ahead of everyone. So climate deniers and Chinaphobes will say, why bother, and what difference will it make?
But as the Greens keep reminding us, every little helps, we all have to do our bit. The first thing to do is convert Drax back to coal. That will be a start. It is obvious from the Chinese example that we can increase emissions if we all try harder.
Perhaps those countries with limited space and ability to burn coal could look at following the Chinese example in a different way. Maybe they should seek to increase water vapour, the other well known remedy against global heating and extreme weather events. Vast evaporation plants should be erected covering most of Europe and the US.
After all, if China has given us the lead in emitting CO2, the rest of us must find some way of increasing these planet saving concentrations in the atmosphere, and emitting vast quantities of humid hot air will be a material contribution to their effort.
There is no dam on earth, no system of flood control, which would have prevented the Chinese floods from a years rainfall in 48 hours.
and that rainfall was clearly the result of climate change.
Maybe that’s China’s wake up call… USA seems to have put its alarm on snooze
It has stopped raining. Perhaps the climate has changed back?
These floods occured because the Chinese government decided it was more important to protect their dam infrastructure than their citizens. They diverted water from the dams and didn’t give a damn where it went.
Not remotely helped by the shoddy construction of their cities and urban infrastructure.
The rainfall in the area is not unusual for this time of year.
Absolutely correct. I might add that Chinese local authorities routinely neglect drainage because it cannot be seen, preferring to spend money on flashy skyscrapers.
In ghost cities
As usual Griff, you demonstrate your utter ignorance. The local government in Henan opened floodgates to empty reservoirs without warning the people in Zhengzhou.
It’s not ignorance, it’s a script. There are patterns in that script that directly conform to organizational objectives and not independent thinking or self doubt.
Every time griff tells this lie, it gets bigger.
First it was 2 months of rain in 48 hours.
Then it was 3 months of rain.
Now it’s a whole year’s worth of rain.
Despite the fact that there have been dozens of bigger floods in the last 700 years, griff still tries to claim that it is obvious that this flood must have been caused by CO2.
Why, because it didn’t flood like this last year.
Obstruction of ultra low-speed BART, METRO, and NYC spending holes and pensions is more like it.
Credibility, they are communists. Would be interesting to know all who are in their hip pocket where the wallet resides.