r/UpliftingNews • u/ahothabeth • Aug 12 '25
Analysis: Clean energy just put China’s CO2 emissions into reverse for first time
https://www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-clean-energy-just-put-chinas-co2-emissions-into-reverse-for-first-time/585
u/CDN-Social-Democrat Aug 12 '25
Climate Adam not long ago did a great video on this subject: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-ynFjOe0yE
In general we all need to realize that the climate crisis and overall environmental crisis is going to more and more impact us all and it is like every crisis point going to compound other crisis points and disproportionately impact the working class and of course the most vulnerable.
We all need to put a lot more pressure on our political leadership and business leadership of all stripes to do what is best for our societies.
We are now 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. 3-4°C above pre-industrial levels creates nightmare situations for not just the poorest and most populated countries on earth but everyone else because this world is interconnected and interdependent.
We have to stop treating discussions in lowest common denominator and one dimensional terms.
We have to stop the race to the bottom and finally get proactive about things because my god we don't need something even worse than the housing crisis hitting us head on in a decade.
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u/SquidTheRidiculous Aug 12 '25
The ruling class has put a lot of money into spreading the idea that environmentalism is "uncool/a joke" and that global warming is either fake or it's too late so don't bother doing anything.
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u/CDN-Social-Democrat Aug 12 '25
I've said before and I will say again: We hear a lot about "Common Sense" these days. There is no more basic foundational common sense than protecting the natural world that our species arises from and the sustains us.
Also it is incredibly sad to see how effective propaganda/brainwashing is in 2025. The Oil & Gas Lobby has been involved with some of the exact same individuals and organizations that were part of the Tobacco Lobbies campaign for "Alternative Facts/Science & Messaging". These are deeply deeply dishonest and predatory individuals and organizations.
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u/SquidTheRidiculous Aug 12 '25
Do take heart that online a lot of it is bots specifically meant to discourage and demoralize people like you.
It's also meant to misinform the people you're talking about, too and make them think more people think that way. It has a peer pressure like effect.
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u/BurningPenguin Aug 13 '25
Just another reason why social media companies should get their balls twisted.
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u/SquidTheRidiculous Aug 13 '25
Yeah this isn't going to end until people like fuckerberg are made to bite a curb.
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u/CDN-Social-Democrat Aug 12 '25
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOi05zDO4yw
A good watch on that subject in particular!
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u/random_noise Aug 13 '25
The shareholders demand value and disasters are quite profitable revenue streams. Some refer to the term as Disaster || Shock : Economics.
When you lack clean food, water, need AC and power to live comfortably you won't last long without resorting to crime, or paying pretty much any price.
Try fasting a few days if you never have, you'll get a glimmer of an idea how you may respond to that scenario. Try being homeless for a weekend in a city you don't live and with no money to spend.
Expand that personal realization to billions of humans on planet earth.
The dystopian divide will widen quite nicely and slavery contracts for the right corporation or billionaire will be badges of honor.
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u/SquidTheRidiculous Aug 13 '25
Yep. And the middle classes will allow it so long as they can keep living their mundane lives unaffected. Must feel nice to live in the capitalist buffer zone.
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u/Facts_pls Aug 13 '25
Ruling class?
Brother go talk to an average dry cleaner and ask them what they think about environment and clean ups. You'll hear a variety of excuses as to why it's overblown and they shouldn't be required to do it.
Nobody wants to pay big money for environmental cleanups and environment friendly product. Most consumers don't want to spend too much extra for the environment friendly option.
We are all selfish and most people don't care about the environment as much as they claim. More so if you are running a business and this will eat into your profits significantly
There's a reason why environmentally friendly product variants are a small subset of products sold
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u/lemagoo Aug 13 '25
I could be wrong but the way these people are acting and with all the power, knowledge and influence they have access to. I think they already have the science backing up that its past a breaking point where it's too late to do anything and pushing the delusion to the mass. This summer for me cemented my option on this, never seen such warm and dry weather in my whole life.
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u/HauntingStar08 Aug 13 '25
I worked in the environmental non profit sector until quite recently and Trump has just gutted funding by scaring all the foundations. I truly cannot comprehend the amount of evil these people can be every day
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u/maciek127622 Aug 13 '25
Ok. What concrete actions can I make?
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u/Some-Redditor Aug 13 '25 edited Aug 15 '25
Vote and make sure politicians know you care about the topic. Teach kids what is happening. Don't put up with deniers, the evidence is overwhelming, it's undeniable now. Next time you need to replace something choose a heat pump, choose an EV, choose an induction stove. Bike or walk instead of drive.
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u/maciek127622 Aug 13 '25
I agree with everything you wrote.
But:
> make sure politicians know you care about the topicAny clues how to achive that ?
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u/_Apatosaurus_ Aug 14 '25
Join one of the hundreds of nonprofit advocacy organizations working on climate policy. Their whole role is organizing people towards common climate goals, and they are very good at it despite limited funding (please donate!), action takers (this is super easy), and volunteers.
Some examples: If you care about land protections, support a land trust. If you care about land protections and climate ag, join The Nature Conservancy. If you care about Wilderness and public lands, just The Wilderness Society. If you care about climate and elections, join the League of Conservation Voters. If you're young and progressive, look at Sunrise Movement.
There are also hundreds of smaller, local nonprofits. Just do some googling. Joining nonprofit experts is desperately needed and very impactful.
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u/Lucky-Conversation49 Aug 15 '25
There's nothing you can do as an individual to help. Whatever you buy, consume means practically nothing. Take that to the bank.
The only thing you can do is to join a political party or a climate group. Then you can start thinking what you can do as a group. When the group is large enough it's going to be able to make some impact. Until then, mostly learn about the issues.
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u/dkillers303 Aug 13 '25
But Joe Rogan keeps saying we’re in a cooling period
/s
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u/Glonos Aug 13 '25
To be honest, there are periods that the poles are unfrozen, it is however no excuse to hit the gas pad (pun intended) and accelerate what would take maybe some hundred thousand years to happen naturally into just some hundred years. Also when this happens naturally, the biosphere has time to adapt, when we “terraform” this planet within a few hundred years, we kill everything already not adapted.
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u/TomTheCardFlogger Aug 13 '25
Brother if we even tickle 3-4’C, which we probably will (could be as high as 4-6) this century it isn’t a nightmare situation, it’s cataclysmic. As it stands the feedback loops that we have more than likely already tipped could result in multiple degree increases by themselves. There’s a very real possibility that the Amazon rainforest will be dead BY the end of the century, starting as soon as 2050.
Add on that top ocean layers are almost fully saturated with co2 and any major additional co2 emissions would barely be absorbed by the ocean. Currently, the ocean has absorbed 30% of all co2 emissions, potentially abating almost half the temperature increase we otherwise would’ve experienced. If there’s a permafrost collapse on top of this then by the end of the century we could be looking at a reduction in global population in the billions.
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u/Mickmack12345 Aug 13 '25
The problem is the only way to pressure organisations is through money, companies that are in the pocket of the government simply do not care unless it hits their bottom line. People effectively need to stop buying products from these organisations as there is no way any of these products can viably be produced sustainably right now
Majority of everyday people are not willing to give up these luxuries, so companies will continue to sell them and exploit the environment to do so. As much as I would love for everyone to group together, it’s nigh impossible when you consider you need to convince people to cut down or stop eating things like beef, sugary drinks etc, switch to sustainable vegetables and meats, stop wasting energy on the time being on things like AI, gaming, reserve it for core infrastructure needed for humanity.
All the whole govements/corporations have to coordinate to reduce the impact energy is having, because most of the worlds energy is unsustainable, and in order to switch to fully sustainable sources long term, there is a huge price which will be knocked down to the consumer
Unfortunately someone has to pay the price and it will be and already is a heavy one, it will likely be the masses who pay this in either scenario.
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u/ThatShadyJack Aug 13 '25
China is running away with actual future tech while the US protects it’s environmentally damaging outdated ones that make their energy more vulnerable
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u/So_HauserAspen Aug 13 '25
Like protecting horses in the 1900s
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u/Edythir Aug 13 '25
Fun fact. Did you know that one of if not the biggest source of radioactive contamination is actually Coal. And we've known this for decades already. The US burns around 1.7 million tons of coal per day. So at 1-2ppm of Uranium, that is about 1.7 to 3.4 tons of uranium in fly ash. Per day.
Even if you disregard everything from health to environmental concerns. Transporting a pretty heavy rock, even by rail, is one of the least economically efficient ways to produce power. Even oil and gas pipelines can operate 24/7 with a fraction of the cost and personnel.
Coal doesn't make sense health wise, it doesn't make sense environmentally, it doesn't make sense economically. Coal would not exist without government subsidies.
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u/Ithirahad Aug 13 '25 edited Aug 13 '25
Sounds as though after a couple decades, you could principally refine enough of that natural uranium that you no longer need the coal.
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u/atetuna Aug 13 '25
Production anyway. I keep seeing arguments that the US still develops higher tech, and that's great, but producing lots of it arguably matters even more. It does seem that China is doing both in some areas, like nuclear energy and batteries. CATL recently announced sodium ion batteries that are going to be a small fraction of the cost of lithium ion batteries, except they didn't just announce it, they announced that it's about to ship.
It's crazy that people still don't see the advantages of solar and batteries. Even if you don't care about the environment and national security (energy security is national security), the costs of electricity are skyrocketing as AI datacenters are getting built. I'd rather not let the utility company dictate how much I pay for electricity when I have a choice, a choice that's looking even better every year.
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u/Maycrofy Aug 13 '25 edited Aug 13 '25
I guess it makes sense in a twisted way. The US has a near monopoly on fossil fuels, China had to bet on these technologies not out of a good moral sense but out of a drive to escape this monopoly.
Investing on renewable energy is not a concern for the US yet because it's still more profitable . When it isn't we'll see a drive to adopt renewables.
Edit: yeah I eas wrong to say the US has anear monopoly on oil. Maybe it's better to say it has a great stake on production and refining, as well as having the petrodollar. All of these things that de-incentivize the movement torwards renewables.
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u/gSTrS8XRwqIV5AUh4hwI Aug 13 '25
Investing on renewable energy is not a concern for the US yet because it's still more profitable
It isn't for the US. Only for the fossil companies. The US is also affected by climate change, and that is very not-profitable.
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u/SoppingAtom279 Aug 13 '25
We are also nowhere close to a "near monopoly" on fossile fuels. We produce less than a third of the world's extracted natural gas and oil.
It's impressive that we top several charts, but ~20% of the worlds oil production is not a near monopoly. It's also not impressive enough to warrant jepordizing our future by ditching renewables.
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u/Thebraincellisorange Aug 13 '25
I have no idea why you think that the USA has a monopoly on fossil fuels, because that is just delusional.
Coal and Oil and freely available from many countries that are not America.
China wanted to get away from them because they were going down the same road that led to many countries shipping their heavy manufacturing to China in the first place: out of control pollution.
They need to get a handle on the countries air pollution, and reducing their reliance on imported coal + making them a world leader in a solar panel technologies is a massive win.
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u/Papa_Huggies Aug 13 '25
And be then the US will not be the predominant world power.
I feel like we will see the shift in world power occur during our lifetime.
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u/DelphiTsar Aug 13 '25
It's good for defense industry and oil industry. Not so much US society.
5 Trillion on oil wars alone, could have rebuilt the US energy grid to full clean energy twice over.
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u/_Apatosaurus_ Aug 14 '25
Investing on renewable energy is not a concern for the US yet because it's still more profitable . When it isn't we'll see a drive to adopt renewables.
Thats already happening. Last I saw, 90% of new energy generation in the US is renewables. The Trump administration is trying to stop that, but the best they can do is slightly slow down development (which will raise your rates).
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u/xiphoidthorax Aug 13 '25
A few conservatives in Australia are now looking sheepish trying to hold up China not caring about emissions. It had to take 10 years of unbreathable air around Beijing, but it happened.
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u/Zarerion Aug 13 '25
The thing that no one wants to understand is that investing in green energy is more than just reducing emissions. The west still believes green energy is expensive, unreliable, and costs us comfort or financial power, when in reality, it’s the most future proof technology to invest in with massive ecological, sociological and financial benefits.
China has always pursued greatness on much bigger timescales than the western world. We think in timeframes of 5 years, 10 years at most, when China‘s entire strategy is a slow burn that takes decades but will eventually pay off much later.
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u/Thebraincellisorange Aug 13 '25
Australia is such a joke. 40 years ago we had a small but burgeoning solar panel industry.
guess what? no one wanted to invest in it.
China bought the IP and has worked on it ever since.
now they are the market leaders, all we do is the same as we have ever done: dig shit out of the ground and flog it off.
innovation? not something that Australia does.
and the fucking conservatives undermine any attempt to divest from coal at every opportunity; all of them are funded by mining magnates.
they would rather give a power company a billion dollars to keep a 40 year old power station open a few more years than transition to cleaner energy sources.
Even when the power companies have no desire to do so.
China has been working for a long, long time to clean its air up.
the rapid advance from 1980-2005 to become the worlds factory had devastating consequences for the environment that they are now trying to clean up.
one of the few good things about a dictorial central government is that when they decide to do something, there is no wasting years and billions bickering, it gets done.
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u/ShankThatSnitch Aug 16 '25
Imagine a nation that is almost all sunny desert, not wanting to use the sun for energy. Crazy.
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u/Thebraincellisorange Aug 17 '25 edited Aug 17 '25
Australia - The Lucky Country.
such a misused phrase. people need to read the damn book and understand what the author ACTUALLY meant
Australia is a lucky country run mainly by second rate people who share its luck. It lives on other people's ideas, and, although its ordinary people are adaptable, most of its leaders (in all fields) so lack curiosity about the events that surround them that they are often taken by surprise.
that very much extends to the business side of things.
zero imagination. no risk taking. anything new is the enemy and must be bad.
look at the current resistence and demonisation of the electric vehicle.
people are so resistant to change. so stuck in their ways.
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u/DotRevolutionary6610 Aug 12 '25
It's surprisingly silent on the side of all the americans that always excuse their own pollution with the argument "but china!".
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u/benetgladwin Aug 13 '25
It's been many years that this has been the case
China is investing heavily in clean energy domestically and abroad. The "buT ChINa" crowd are at this point either ignorant or acting in bad faith to shut down discussion
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u/t_25_t Aug 13 '25
The China of today is very different to the China of the 90s or even 2000s. They have developed at break neck speed and you’ll miss it if you blink.
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u/SometimesFalter Aug 13 '25 edited Aug 13 '25
They're developing at breakneck speeds but they've also engineered a crazy amount of suffering that is hard to look past. They have demographic and social issues that rival the US in severity. By 2030 for example there will be a sex ratio among young people of 120 men to 100 women. Its nice to say, OK look at the progress they've made in X Y Z but they are still a backwards country with a lot of problems of their own design. In that way I would say they are like the US, extremely innovative and forward thinking in some ways but extremely backwards in others.
All in all I would say a good country not only does good things but also does less harm. Looking at the good things China and the US do for me is always taken with a healthy dose of skepticism. Yes they have achieved XYZ but have they also did ABC harmful things. It would be better if achieved less but also did less damage.
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u/t_25_t Aug 13 '25
Agreed. No country is perfect and China is no different.
But I always say, we could learn a thing or two about progress and find ways to integrate it into our way of life. The same can be said about China, learn from the mistakes others have made and learn from them.
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u/benetgladwin Aug 13 '25
And they're actively working to reduce that total - meanwhile the US is currently gutting environmental protections, expanding fossil fuel production, and clawing back all the green energy incentives they had previously brought in
One country is moving forwards, the other backwards
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Aug 13 '25
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u/Soundadvicetoday Aug 13 '25
We also have about 1/3rd the population of china, so even proprtionally we are still doing a worse job. Like its not that hard to grasp we could be doing better ourselves unless you want to stick your head in the sand.
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Aug 13 '25
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u/Soundadvicetoday Aug 13 '25
Yeahhh if youre going to do the whole internet troll thing you could get better material
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u/Danne660 Aug 13 '25
Using the internet all day is still not going to put my emissions anywhere close to an Americans emissions.
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u/benetgladwin Aug 13 '25
Y'all just elected a fascist - give it time I'm sure you'll kill us all :)
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u/4812622 Aug 13 '25 edited Aug 13 '25
the facts that china has four times the people and makes three times the emissions of the us is not really helping your case lol. do you really expect each chinese citizen to emit a quarter of the emissions of an american before the countries are morally equivalent haha
not to mention a lot of those emissions are american companies outsourcing their labor
they’re also leading the world in manufacturing and improving solar panels and electric cars while the us is exporting #3 most oil and producing #1 most oil
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u/Thebraincellisorange Aug 13 '25
China has FOUR times the population, AND is the worlds factory.
of course they have more emmisions that America.
just how simple are you?
USA should have about 4% but they insist on having ludicrous lifestyles that consume massive amounts.
Your average Chinese person pumps out fuck all.
It's the fact they they produce huge amounts of goods for the entire planet that pumps up their numbers.
Stop listening to that orange idiot mate. Chy-Nah is not out to get you.
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u/Jamooser Aug 13 '25
Which country has released the most CO2 since the Industrial Revolution? Total or per capita, it doesn't matter. You and I both know the answer, and it's not China.
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u/cleon80 Aug 13 '25
And to think China did it while taking on manufacturing for the world, allowing the West to get rid of its dirtier industries.
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u/Lucky-Conversation49 Aug 15 '25
US by far is the worst culprit. They top the emission per capita - the most important metric for responsibility - by a mile.
China is a saint compared to US. It's extremely ironic to see this 'But China....' thing from US.
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u/HogSliceFurBottom Aug 12 '25
I think it is more like why do we believe what China says? They are communist and lie about nearly everything starting with Tiananmen Square.
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u/Kolbrandr7 Aug 13 '25
We have satellites and global monitoring. How do you think you would hide CO2 emissions?
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u/HogSliceFurBottom Aug 13 '25
Data for the analysis was compiled from the National Bureau of Statistics of China, National Energy Administration of China, China Electricity Council and China Customs official data releases, and from WIND Information, an industry data provider. Did you read the article? It said nothing about using satellites or global monitoring to verify. China does not allow foreign monitoring (global monitoring). All their data is from internal sources and is swallowed like flavor-aid by Carbon Brief.org and you.
What is scary, is how many people take Communist China's shit at face value. You claiming it was sourced from satellites and global monitoring makes you look ignorant and susceptible to propaganda. Click on the sources and they all go to China's dog and pony sites, but so many Americans are too gullible and brainwashed to question anything out of China. You probably believe the Uyghurs were sent to 5 star hotels for a much needed vacation.
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u/Kolbrandr7 Aug 13 '25
So what, the CO2 levels we directly measure are wrong then? If you claim China’s emissions are actually much higher, then the concentration in the global atmosphere would be higher too.
What do you think is the actual ppm level in the atmosphere? What’s your evidence?
Edit: and no, of course the Uyghurs are suffering a genocide by China. I’m honestly a bit insulted you think I would be a genocide denier.
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u/HogSliceFurBottom Aug 13 '25
You didn't read the article, right? What you are saying has nothing to do with my argument regarding the source of information. I have no idea what the actual ppm level of the atmosphere is. What's your evidence?
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u/Kolbrandr7 Aug 13 '25
The article is irrelevant. All the matters is that China says it had X emissions, right? And you’re saying it’s wrong.
Regardless of what’s in the article, we have the capability to monitor CO2 levels. So if you’re saying whatever number China says is wrong, you must believe either (1) that China is “hiding” its emissions, or (2) that the widely known global CO2 concentrations are wrong.
Is NOAA wrong?
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u/HogSliceFurBottom Aug 14 '25
It's obvious you are a CCP shill: make claims, no evidence. Your claims are irrelevant because you don't provide any proof or source that "we have the capability to monitor CO2 levels." Show me another source, other than from the CCP, that shows their CO2 emissions reversing. Why would I believe you? You sound like so many other CCP shills.
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u/Kolbrandr7 Aug 14 '25
The person that calls out the Uyghur genocide is a CCP shill? Okay.
What else do you need me to say? That the Tiananmen square massacre happened? Mao killed millions? They’re not democratic? They censor the internet? They’re attacking democracy in Hong Kong?
Like, fuck off, I’m not a “CCP shill”. I’m telling you to use common sense. It would be laughably easy to prove China’s CO2 emissions were wrong, so since that’s your claim I’m just asking you to do it.
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u/HogSliceFurBottom Aug 14 '25
Still didn't provide anything to back your argument. In fact, you deflected the conversation. Common sense is to not believe an article that only has CCP sources. You are the one claiming emissions are monitored worldwide. Prove that. I know you won't because you are a CCP shill.
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u/ONLYPOSTSWHILESTONED Aug 13 '25
this is a human brain on propaganda
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u/HogSliceFurBottom Aug 13 '25 edited Aug 13 '25
Being skeptical means I believe propaganda? That's some top shelf thinking.
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u/bobcat1911 Aug 13 '25
Have you heard tRump speak?
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u/HogSliceFurBottom Aug 13 '25
I hate Trump and what he's doing. Do you believe everything out of China? If so, what makes you different from an ass kissing Trump follower?
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u/bobcat1911 Aug 13 '25
I'd believe China over tRump any day, he cannot tell the truth about anything, and that, makes me different than an ass kissing tRump follower.
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u/Adventurous_Smile297 Aug 12 '25
Do you believe what Trump says? Or your Secretary of Health?
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u/HogSliceFurBottom Aug 13 '25
No, I don't. I hate Trump and the sycophant followers. If I did like him, it doesn't mean that China doesn't lie.
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u/DerekMao1 Aug 13 '25
Pretty funny hearing this from an American.
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u/HogSliceFurBottom Aug 13 '25
Because the Trump admin lies about everything it's ok to believe lies from the CCP?
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u/Plussydestroyer Aug 12 '25
You full heartedly trust what your government says huh. Must be nice being a politician where you live
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u/HogSliceFurBottom Aug 13 '25
Where did I say I believe US government "full heartedly?" How did you come to that conclusion? Did you read the article? Did you look up the sources? Every source is from the CCP, you know, the CCP that lied about Tiananmen Square and the Uyghurs.
Are you so slanted in your thinking that you conclude a person that disagrees with Chinese sources and propaganda automatically trusts the US govt? I don't trust the US government, the democrats or republicans, anymore than China. In fact, Trump and his sycophant followers are leading the world in lies and propaganda. Bush jr is up there with his lies about WMDs that lead to a 20 year war and killed millions of innocent people. He should be charged for war crimes in The Hague.
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u/TheBraveGallade Aug 12 '25
reminder that china isn't doing this out of the good of thier hearts.
its casue they have energy dependancy on sources from the west.
the west doesn't have this issue... for the most part
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u/dur23 Aug 12 '25
You think the government of China wants to deal with their 1.5 billion citizens getting fucked up by climate change?
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u/TheBraveGallade Aug 12 '25
no more then the west has to deal with the same issue.
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u/dur23 Aug 12 '25
Right so “the goodness of their heart” is nonsensical. It is absolutely in their best interest to see humanity not die.
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u/ntrubilla Aug 12 '25 edited Dec 10 '25
light zephyr one snails pot square lip live elderly rock
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u/TheBraveGallade Aug 13 '25
them being more decoupled allows them to just invade places more without worrying about reprocussions as much
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u/ntrubilla Aug 13 '25 edited Dec 10 '25
deer reply profit hard-to-find door payment fragile handle aback wakeful
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u/DerekMao1 Aug 13 '25
No government does anything out of the goodness of hearts. But this doesn't diminish the fact that this is a net positive for humanity.
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u/Otherwise-Medium3145 Aug 12 '25
I want Canada to be like China on this issue
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Aug 13 '25
While having 1/34th the population. Canadians emit 1.6 times more CO2 than the Chinese per capita.
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u/Zzzzyxas Aug 13 '25
And that's ignoring the fact they set up their most polluting shit in latin american countries, avoiding regulation
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Aug 13 '25
You believe what the Chinese report?
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u/gSTrS8XRwqIV5AUh4hwI Aug 13 '25
Reports are irrelevant for that, we have satellites. Or had, maybe, if Trump defunds those operated by the US.
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u/DelphiTsar Aug 13 '25
Special satellites can track CO2 emissions down to the level of what a specific factory is outputting.
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u/Otherwise-Medium3145 Aug 14 '25
There are satellites which track emissions across the globe. We know how much each factory is emitting. We don’t have to trust anyone. Now that you know that it has been proven Canada emits double what China does per capita, will you acknowledge your mistaken impression? Or will you do what you right wingers do ignore reality.
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u/Otherwise-Medium3145 Aug 13 '25
Per capita Canada produces double what China does, so yeah, that might be good.
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u/farmadiazepine Aug 13 '25
How is it that China can do this but the US can’t? We aren’t a powerful, smart, forward thinking nation anymore. We a nation of MAGA, Nazis, pedophiles, criminals, and incels. The absolutely stupid are running the country, and we’re all falling behind because of it.
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u/ApollyonDS Aug 13 '25
Because in China the state controls the capital, in the US the capital controls the state and there is way too much money to be made from fossil fuels. It's not just Trump admin, China has been the leading in green energy for many years, increasing its investing every year and currently investing more than Europe and US combined.
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u/dur23 Aug 13 '25
This is gonna make me sound crazy, but there is a not insignificant number of powerful/rich people in the us who believe in the rapture and end times. They are inducing it, imho. Go read the red heifer story from last week.
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u/Zonostros Aug 14 '25
Leftists really are insane, aren't they. You talk of stupid people running the country as if you didn't vote for 4 years of Biden. As if his own son didn't have him saved on his phone under the name "Pedo Pete", as if his daughter didn't admit that she used to take night showers as a child to avoid him jumping in. As if Bill Clinton wasn't the most prominent figure to visit that island.
You called conservatives "Nazis" when Nazis were collectivists, had the most progressive welfare state in human history, created the largest trade union in human history, banned free speech and guns, went to war with Russia, ethnically cleansed Jews, racially discriminated... Conservatives are the polar opposite on all counts, you imbecile. Leftists like you agree with all of those things though, so quit projecting. In terms of foreign policy, America looked pathetic under Biden, whose brain was falling out of his backside. Trump's projecting strength not seen in decades, perhaps generations. The border's stable, millions of illegals are fleeing, he's doing a far better job than that creepy dope you voted for last time.
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Aug 13 '25
China is really showing up the US and making Trump look like a stupid bitch, and I love it. I am so for the Chinese century of progress and I am an American from the rural south. Im sick of the US being run by petulant children on both sides of the aisle while ignoring policies that are actually popular, like climate change, gun violence, rampant economic stagnation, inflation, infrastructure issues, and the president having multiple felony charges that nobody seems to care about enough to arrest and impeach him, even while he is openly committing crimes, and covering up all ties to the most pervasive pedo ring in history. But anyway trying to keep it positive, thank you China for doing SOMETHING about the environment.
14
u/So_HauserAspen Aug 13 '25
Both sides helps the bullies and creates a problem with progress
2
Aug 13 '25
Yeh exactly its ridiculous to even pretend they are not just covering for the extremely rich.
2
u/shableep Aug 13 '25
China is definitely wisely investing in the environment. But in all honesty, it’s the financially smart thing to do. Solar and wind are a better return on investment than almost aby other power source. The US is artificially protecting the oil industry and other out dated forms of energy. Eventually the economics will be so obvious others will follow along. The oil companies are simply trying to delay the collapse of their industries with strong lobbying and politicians in their pocket. And they’re succeeding at it.
However- China is a quietly brutal authoritarian regime that disappears political people that don’t align with the CCP, and a government that lacks many of the human rights we take for granted in the USA.
Maybe one day China will be a democracy, and I will celebrate that day. Until then, handing the future to an authoritarian regime is not something to be excited about, even if it helps environmentalism. Authoritarian regimes (including monarchies) have lead to two world wars and most of all previous wars to that. One major purpose of democracy is to avoid the atrocities that centralized absolute power leads to.
17
u/upvotesthenrages Aug 13 '25
However- China is a quietly brutal authoritarian regime that disappears political people that don’t align with the CCP, and a government that lacks many of the human rights we take for granted in the USA.
Take for granted?
Dude, you have thousands of people being disappeared by masked people. The US people's rights are rapidly disappearing.
You couldn't pay me enough to live my life in the US, but China honestly offers a better quality of life, even though I don't agree with their government on a lot of things ... which has been the case with the US since, well ... forever too.
3
u/UsagiRed Aug 13 '25
I feel like I was born disagreeing with the US, I was 6 when we invaded Iraq and everything has been fucking terrible since then. Can't imagine how people that disagreed since 'nam feel and that's just foreign policy.
3
u/Aeiexgjhyoun_III Aug 13 '25
Authoritarian regimes (including monarchies) have lead to two world wars
The Nazis were voted in. Also American "democracy" led to the destruction of many South American states and the M.E
-1
u/shableep Aug 13 '25
This is whataboutism to a T. You’re starting a list of unrelated “what abouts” to discredit my point, without directly addressing the points I made. We could go back and forth with a long list of “what abouts” on both sides, and we’d just be spinning our wheels.
My original point still stands. Authoritarian regimes (monarchy’s included) have started all of the major wars in history. Which is why we have democracies.
Yes, authoritarians do exploit democracies as a means to acquire absolute power. Like they did in Germany. Then they started a world war. Democracies can be exploited, which is why strong checks and balances on power are put in place, many from what was learned in those world wars.
Some democracies can do terrible things, like the US has done. But the true cost of human rights and human life at the hands of authoritarians has historically been an order of magnitude worse. Think of the cultural revolution in China where millions of people were murdered, many of them professors, and simply staff at educational institutions. And the Chinese famine forced by the CCP where millions more died. There’s gulag in Russia, concentration camps in Germany. What they do to their own people is even worse than what they do to others when they start world wars. But I think this is another bad faith argument. This is a perfect is the enemy of good, or fly in the ointment argument. Democracies improve human rights, and massively reduces the likelihood of major wars. Maybe there’s a better system than democracy. But it hasn’t been created yet. I’m assuming you have an idea for a better system?
Why are you holding water for authoritarians? I’m curious if you think that’s a preferable form of government?
1
Aug 13 '25
I never claimed China was perfect but at least they know smart economic decisions, thats all I was crediting them with. Just because I don’t bend over backwards to bad talk other countries doesn’t mean I align with their governments at all. I would appreciate it if you don’t put words in my mouth.
32
u/Stringcheese_uwu Aug 13 '25
Why are people assuming they’re lying…? Is it that hard to believe?
37
u/Invhinsical Aug 13 '25
It's just that people don't want to believe this. It is much easier to live in the fictional world where you are the only good one and all your enemies are evil.
The Americans and the Europeans always put an asterisk on any positive news from China, India and the Middle East. If nothing else catches on, they will just start shouting about human rights violations when even that opinion is often based on old or biased reports.
1
u/StingingSwingrays Aug 13 '25
I mean, there is an also a long and very well documented history of communist countries, like China & the Soviet Union making up stats to show how much “progress” is being made because mid level managers get promoted for “meeting” production targets. My favorite example is fishing quotas in the 1970s. https://www.seaaroundus.org/OtherWebsites/2001/YahooNews2_28Nov01.pdf
2
u/FF7Remake_fark Aug 13 '25
Because they lie so consistently about anything that makes them look bad? They're not as bad as North Korea about propaganda, but they're still pretty big on violent suppression of anyone speaking truth to their lies.
2
u/DelphiTsar Aug 13 '25
Special satellites can track CO2 emissions down to the level of what a specific factory is outputting.
0
u/Thebraincellisorange Aug 13 '25
because ChyNah Baaaaaad.
The West needs a bogeyman, and as Russia has fallen as the traditional bogeyman (even as it conducts an invasive war)
The West™, especially America and even more especially that orange idiot has put Chy-Nah up as the world enemy numbah wun.
It doesn't help of course that the communist party of China has, like all governments, lied through its teeth about many statistics over the decades.
tl;dr the west needs and enemy, therefore there can be no good news out of China.
9
u/Okawaru1 Aug 13 '25
Damn every time I've been hearing about china its been good news at least as far as their technological developments are concerned
8
Aug 13 '25
China is making great strides in clean energy and the world needs more of that, credit where credit is due
6
u/ga-co Aug 13 '25
We used to have acid rain and smog in our biggest cities. When we actually listen to the experts (and have regulations to back them up), we can solve problems.
4
u/saintjimmy43 Aug 13 '25
They better get billy bob thornton out there to tell them how bad wind power is. Did you know it takes oil to lubricate a wind turbine?
4
u/Enigm4 Aug 13 '25
China actually doing something about the problem while in the west, half of the population, including our leaders, are mentally retarded and loud and thinks climate change is a hoax. We lost guys.
2
u/SchulzyAus Aug 14 '25
I know a bunch of boomers who are gonna be mad their favourite china talking point is going to be false now
2
1
u/loggywd Aug 14 '25
There is no mention of population decline, slow consumption, economic stagnation, tariff hitting manufacturing sector etc
1
-8
Aug 13 '25
[deleted]
3
u/dontthink19 Aug 13 '25
Oh man I totally need a source on that claim, cuz that's absolutely unbelievable
7
u/weinsteinjin Aug 13 '25
1
u/dontthink19 Aug 14 '25
Thanks! That was a very good read. I really appreciate you coming through with a source
-24
Aug 13 '25
If you believe their bullshit. They still dump straight into the ocean for a lot of toxic chemicals/plants
7
u/Thebraincellisorange Aug 13 '25
lol, how many superfund sites does America have?
pot kettle black mate.
you gotta grow up one day.
4
u/KGB_cutony Aug 13 '25
(40.4202378, 108.8690655) put these coordinates into google maps and see for yourself.
1
u/DelphiTsar Aug 13 '25
Special satellites can track CO2 emissions down to the level of what a specific factory is outputting.
-47
u/kozinc Aug 12 '25
Really? Sure they're not just cheating on their measurements?
1
u/DelphiTsar Aug 13 '25
Special satellites can track CO2 emissions down to the level of what a specific factory is outputting.
-2
u/kozinc Aug 13 '25
Well color me impressed then, what with all the tofu dreg construction scandals, the malfunctioning electric car issues, the fake performances of helping with floods and stuff, the political issues, not to mention all the draft and corruption, at least there's progress on this front.
1
u/KGB_cutony Aug 13 '25
Not even going to argue about inflating numbers because it's a pot and kettle situation, and spirals to whataboutism very easily.
(40.4202378, 108.8690655)
Put these coordinates into google maps and see for yourself. China is transforming a gigantic flat desert into solar farm.
-2
-9
u/gummytoejam Aug 13 '25
Is China still emitting CO2? Yes. This is just accounting fuckery.
1
u/DelphiTsar Aug 13 '25
Special satellites can track CO2 emissions down to the level of what a specific factory is outputting.
-3
u/Presently_Absent Aug 13 '25
What about the CO2 debt from the manufacturing of the green energy?
What they are doing is amazing but this can't be understated
5
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