China has been making unexpected large strides away from fossil fuels and has become the largest investor in wind and solar technology. Credit: | VCG/Getty
Call it the China climate paradox.
Often considered the bogeyman of global climate diplomacy, China is making greater and faster strides than expected away from fossil fuels — becoming the world’s largest investor in solar and wind technology and boasting more jobs in solar energy than in coal-mining. It’s all part of a longterm economic strategy to dominate in critical technologies.
The torrid pace and unprecedented scale of China’s investments in clean energy are driven in part by local concerns about toxic air quality. China remains the world’s leading emitter of greenhouse gases, accounting for roughly 30 percent of global carbon dioxide pollution.
But the moves are giving China a growing leadership role on the world stage — precisely at a time when Washington’s voice is becoming less relevant thanks to President Donald Trump’s announced plan to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris climate […]
What will China’s leadership vs climate change mean to the arc of society?
Have we failed as stewards of democracy? Even before Trump, we had allowed it to devolve into a corrupted system, handicapped in its abilities, easy prey for deceit and demagoguery. The American political system no longer serves the will of the people, solves big problems, or promotes the public good.
We are not equipped as well as China to respond in timely and meaningful ways to the crisis of climate change. When for so long we had a head start, we moved too slowly, and now we withdraw from the effort in effect sabotaging the progress of others.
As our hobbled democracy cedes leadership to China, 30 years after the end of the Cold War, the planet may be saved, but in the process, authoritarianism may triumph over democracy on a scale far beyond the Soviet Union’s occasional victory like Sputnik. History will not be kind.
You moved too slow because of the 3 pillars of American society: corruption, racism, and religion.
The Native Americans have become leaders in the solar movement and their investment in it is supplanting their “casino leadership” for a money making alternative.