Greta Thunberg - Honorary PhD

[Diogenes]

72 government ministers for a couple of islands with a population just a bit larger than the population of the state of Alabama (which is ranked #24 in population).

I think I'm beginning to see the problem.

DIE portfolio included.

[Diogenes]

I've seen you guys make these claims about China doing nothing before.

Yet when I look at other sources I see things like:
- China's making and installing more solar panels than anyone else, now having over a third of the world's total solar.
- China's coming to dominate the electric car market. It's the world's largest purchaser of electric vehicles, with numbers increasing exponentially. It's company BYD is now the biggest producer of electric vehicles in the world.
- China's announced a new aim to plant and conserve 70 billion trees. It has also long had a Great Green Wall project running from 1978 to 2050 that involves planting trees in a swath 2,800 miles long to hold back the expansion of the Gobi desert. Analyses of this by the US govt and BBC have confirmed it appears to be working, now covering 190 thousand square miles according to satellite images, and pushing back the Gobi desert which had previously been expanding.
- China's stated that it's aiming for a 65% reduction in carbon emission by 2030 compared to 2005 levels

As far as I can see the "China's not doing stuff" is a conservative talking point that doesn't appear to have any basis in reality.

China is also building new coal pants.

[Starlight]

72 government ministers for a couple of islands with a population just a bit larger than the population of the state of Alabama (which is ranked #24 in population).

I think I'm beginning to see the problem.

Yes the problem is that you need to get a refund from any schooling you paid for. As I said, ministers typically have 3 portfolios. So 72 portfolios is not 72 ministers.

Alabama has 140 politicians in its legislature. New Zealand has 120 politicians in its legislature. Seems comparable. The two have similar populations but New Zealand is about twice the geographical size of Alabama.

[Sparko]

I've seen you guys make these claims about China doing nothing before.

Yet when I look at other sources I see things like:
- China's making and installing more solar panels than anyone else, now having over a third of the world's total solar.
- China's coming to dominate the electric car market. It's the world's largest purchaser of electric vehicles, with numbers increasing exponentially. It's company BYD is now the biggest producer of electric vehicles in the world.
- China's announced a new aim to plant and conserve 70 billion trees. It has also long had a Great Green Wall project running from 1978 to 2050 that involves planting trees in a swath 2,800 miles long to hold back the expansion of the Gobi desert. Analyses of this by the US govt and BBC have confirmed it appears to be working, now covering 190 thousand square miles according to satellite images, and pushing back the Gobi desert which had previously been expanding.
- China's stated that it's aiming for a 65% reduction in carbon emission by 2030 compared to 2005 levels

As far as I can see the "China's not doing stuff" is a conservative talking point that doesn't appear to have any basis in reality.

Well...

China is building six times more new coal plants than other countries, report finds

China approved equivalent of two new coal plants a week in 2022, report finds

[Starlight]

Well...

China is building six times more new coal plants than other countries, report finds

China approved equivalent of two new coal plants a week in 2022, report finds

That's bad.
But we do know from China in the past that building isn't the same as using, e.g. the 'ghost cities' that were built for the sake of building things rather than actually anyone living in.

The articles are saying that the justification for these coal plants was times when the grid lacked enough power from other sources. So, presumably, these power plants would not be in constant use, and only turned on when the other sources failed. While that's still not great, it's a far cry from China intending to run this many coal plants continuously as their main electricity supply. They are investing in new solar and wind power plants every bit as much as coal ones. It is not a "we don't give two figs about climate change, and coals cheap so we're going to burn all of it to save money, down with the planet" attitude, it's a "we'd like to have a backup power supply that we can turn on when our preferred power sources drop out temporarily" attitude, which is quite different.

[Mountain Man]

I've seen you guys make these claims about China doing nothing before.

Yet when I look at other sources I see things like:
- China's making and installing more solar panels than anyone else, now having over a third of the world's total solar.
- China's coming to dominate the electric car market. It's the world's largest purchaser of electric vehicles, with numbers increasing exponentially. It's company BYD is now the biggest producer of electric vehicles in the world.
- China's announced a new aim to plant and conserve 70 billion trees. It has also long had a Great Green Wall project running from 1978 to 2050 that involves planting trees in a swath 2,800 miles long to hold back the expansion of the Gobi desert. Analyses of this by the US govt and BBC have confirmed it appears to be working, now covering 190 thousand square miles according to satellite images, and pushing back the Gobi desert which had previously been expanding.
- China's stated that it's aiming for a 65% reduction in carbon emission by 2030 compared to 2005 levels

As far as I can see the "China's not doing stuff" is a conservative talking point that doesn't appear to have any basis in reality.

Sure, you can believe the Chinese government propaganda if you want.

[Starlight]

Sure, you can believe the Chinese government propaganda if you want.

Do you think forests so big that the US satellites can measure their size from space are imaginary? Or that Chinese electric vehicles purchasable around the world are?

[Diogenes]

Do you think forests so big that the US satellites can measure their size from space are imaginary? Or that Chinese electric vehicles purchasable around the world are?

All that that cobalt mining, lithium mining, and extra strain on electrical grids are wonders for the environment.

[tabibito]

All that that cobalt mining, lithium mining, and extra strain on electrical grids are wonders for the environment.

Sodium batteries are showing promise as a replacement technology. If it pans out, the market for the rare metals will dry up.

[rogue06]

I've seen you guys make these claims about China doing nothing before.

Yet when I look at other sources I see things like:
- China's making and installing more solar panels than anyone else, now having over a third of the world's total solar.
- China's coming to dominate the electric car market. It's the world's largest purchaser of electric vehicles, with numbers increasing exponentially. It's company BYD is now the biggest producer of electric vehicles in the world.
- China's announced a new aim to plant and conserve 70 billion trees. It has also long had a Great Green Wall project running from 1978 to 2050 that involves planting trees in a swath 2,800 miles long to hold back the expansion of the Gobi desert. Analyses of this by the US govt and BBC have confirmed it appears to be working, now covering 190 thousand square miles according to satellite images, and pushing back the Gobi desert which had previously been expanding.
- China's stated that it's aiming for a 65% reduction in carbon emission by 2030 compared to 2005 levels

As far as I can see the "China's not doing stuff" is a conservative talking point that doesn't appear to have any basis in reality.

"China's announced a new aim..."

"China's stated that it's aiming for..."

Hardly compares with now producing more air pollution and greenhouse gases that the next three biggest producers (U.S., the E.U., and India) combined.

Or the fact that they continue at a breakneck pace in building coal-powered plants (China permits two new coal power plants per week in 2022) -- a sharp increase over previous years. China has six times as many of these plants under construction as the rest of the world combined has, and FWICT, most of those being built in other countries are being constructed by Chinese companies. Today, China accounts for around half of the world's coal consumption and half of its coal-fired energy capacity and as we can see this is growing at a rapid pace.

Yet they are still exempt from all the various programs and policies that are supposed to curb it, and they won't be contributing a dime to any funds that will supposedly go to the nation's least responsible for global warming -- but most harmed by its effects in spite of being far and away the biggest culprit.

But they are "aiming for"...

As long as the climate change hysteria crew exempts the biggest source of the problem from having to take action, and turns a blind ye as they continue to escalate the levels of pollution and greenhouse gasses they produce, why should anyone believe this is a serious issue?

But in the end, you are correct that it is wrong to say that "China's not doing stuff" but not in the way you think. They're doing stuff alright. Stuff that will continue to see the pollution and greenhouse gasses that they produce to continue going up. And the Greens simply look the other way.

[Starlight]

DIE portfolio included.

Is a whole person in the country working on Diversity, Inclusion and Ethnic Communities (which I presume is your reference?) one person too many? Well, don't worry, that's one of 3 ministerial portfolios he has, and he's associate minister for 2 other portfolios, as well as being a normal elected politician. So, maybe he gives it, like 10%, of his working day? Is a tenth of a person working on that about the right amount?

[Sparko]

That's bad.
But we do know from China in the past that building isn't the same as using, e.g. the 'ghost cities' that were built for the sake of building things rather than actually anyone living in.

The articles are saying that the justification for these coal plants was times when the grid lacked enough power from other sources. So, presumably, these power plants would not be in constant use, and only turned on when the other sources failed. While that's still not great, it's a far cry from China intending to run this many coal plants continuously as their main electricity supply. They are investing in new solar and wind power plants every bit as much as coal ones. It is not a "we don't give two figs about climate change, and coals cheap so we're going to burn all of it to save money, down with the planet" attitude, it's a "we'd like to have a backup power supply that we can turn on when our preferred power sources drop out temporarily" attitude, which is quite different.

Sounds like rationalization on your part, Star. "they are building the coal plants 'just in case'" -- yeah right.

China's Jan-Feb coal imports jump 71% in stock-building push
SINGAPORE, March 7 (Reuters) - China's coal imports in the first two months of 2023 surged 71% from a low base a year earlier as utilities replenished stocks in anticipation of greater demand after the country abandoned its zero-COVID policies.

China, the world's largest coal consumer, imported 60.64 million tonnes of coal during January and February, up from 35.39 million tonnes in the same period last year, customs data showed on Tuesday. Data for the two months is combined due to the week-long Lunar New Year holiday that began in late January.


https://www.reuters.com/world/china/...nd-2023-03-07/

[rogue06]

Sounds like rationalization on your part, Star. "they are building the coal plants 'just in case'" -- yeah right.

China's Jan-Feb coal imports jump 71% in stock-building push
SINGAPORE, March 7 (Reuters) - China's coal imports in the first two months of 2023 surged 71% from a low base a year earlier as utilities replenished stocks in anticipation of greater demand after the country abandoned its zero-COVID policies.

China, the world's largest coal consumer, imported 60.64 million tonnes of coal during January and February, up from 35.39 million tonnes in the same period last year, customs data showed on Tuesday. Data for the two months is combined due to the week-long Lunar New Year holiday that began in late January.


https://www.reuters.com/world/china/...nd-2023-03-07/

Not to long ago I read something where critics were saying that these coal-powered plants are so poorly constructed and inefficient that the various efforts at solar and wind power are actually meant to provide backup for the times they'll have to shut down for repairs.

[rogue06]

Yes the problem is that you need to get a refund from any schooling you paid for. As I said, ministers typically have 3 portfolios. So 72 portfolios is not 72 ministers.

Alabama has 140 politicians in its legislature. New Zealand has 120 politicians in its legislature. Seems comparable. The two have similar populations but New Zealand is about twice the geographical size of Alabama.

That y'all have 72 ministries is excessive regardless of how many people you have doing the job as minister.

Generally speaking governments are larger where populations are condensed (urban areas for instance).

[Thoughtful Monk]

"Woke" is now an official religion it seems.

‘What must true theologians think’: ‘Pagan’ Greta Thunberg receives theology doctorate | Watch (msn.com)

I'll go with environmentalists worship the earth and therefore Greta is acting as a priestess of that religion.