Not only have India and China realized they have a serious problem with global warming they, unlike the irrational denizens of the White House, plan to do something about it.
India, another rapidly industrialising third world country, also warned yesterday that it and other developing countries, could not afford to copy the West’s “wasteful lifestyle“.
A Chinese report said
“If no measures are taken, in the latter half of the century, production of wheat, corn and rice in China will drop by as much as 37 per cent.”
Ponder if you will, the political and economic ramifications of that. Millions of hungry people, something that can only lead to unrest in the cities and countryside. One of China’s main problems is their rapid industrialization has led to large numbers of new power plants – and they all burn coal, which is notoriously bad for the environment.
There’s a human cost to this too, and it’s already happening.
In Australia, which also now understands global warming is happening, they are experiencing faster climate change than elsewhere, including a long, serious drought in some areas. This has resulted in barren farmland and a sharp increase in suicides among farmers.
And this is just the leading edge of global warming. Things are going to get worse. The US is the only industrialized country where the “leaders” do not accept that climate change is occurring. It’s also the home of hyper-predatory capitalism, where nothing must be allowed to interfere with making money. These two facts are quite intertwined.
To solve global warming, we need new economic systems where the good of all comes first, and where short-sighted greed is not allowed to wreak havoc on the planet.
China a few years ago had already contracted a couple of European firms to help
an ecocity. I feel that these countries were already aware of these situations
years ago and these reports wil only hasten their decisions to build better
economic and environmental programs for their people. The US of A? I live here,
and I feel we people are just as responsible as the government. I think if a small
group starts to shift in the sustainable direction and prospers from it, the
rest of the country should follow. Given our gluttonous nature, I wonder if it
will be too late once (or if) the tide turns toward conservation.
It’s all Bill Clinton’s fault!
India has woken up to the fact that its growing energy hunger will NOT be satisfied by C-based fuels. Indian coal is quite dirty – high sulfur content. Better grade coal is available from Indonesia and other places, but transportation costs add a large penalty. Indigenous coal, while plentiful, is low grade with high ash content also.
India’s natural gas and oil reserves are quite small. Neighbors have plenty of natural gas (Bangladesh, Iran, central Asia), but are either inimical politically (Bangladesh) or there are physical barriers to pipelines (Pakistan). Also India has NOT been successful in competing with China for overseas oil and natural gas reserves (Myanmar, Russia and former Soviet States, and western Africa). Thus India is in dire need of alternative sources for energy.
As they say – Necessity is the Mother of Invention. Indian wind energy tycoon Tulsi Tanti is now running Suzlon Energy – see http://www.suzlon.com/news.htm – the world’s largest wind energy manufacturer. On a recent visit to India, I was told of Reliance Retail’s (to compete with Wal*Mart’s entry in India) plans to run most of its new food stores (Reliance Fresh – see http://www.newkerala.com/news4.php?action=fullnews&id=73444) primarily on solar energy panels. Right now the solar energy industry in India is nascent and quite immature, but I expect it to become a significant player in the next 5 years – about the same time frame as here in California!
One additional comment. The installed wind capacity in various countries are as follows:
Country Sep 06 installed capacity in MW
Germany
Sorry – the posting was premature.
The installed wind capacity in various countries are as follows:
Country Sep 06 installed capacity in MW
Germany 19,540
USA 10,640
India 5,341
Italy 1,840
China 1,600
Portugal 1,314
Australia 817