Daily Archives: January 19, 2007

The Chinese Century

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Commenting on the latest Time Magazine cover.

And what is the title of the cover story? You guessed it — “The Chinese Century.” There’s nothing wrong with the headline, we guess, other than the fact that it is grossly unoriginal (as we pointed out in the summer of 2005). Here’s why:

  • On July 4, 2004, The New York Times Magazine proclaimed that we were living in, yep, “The Chinese Century.”
  • On May 9, 2005, Newsweek said the 21st Century was, mmmm hmmm, “China’s Century.” That was followed closely by June 2005 cover stories from, yes, TIME and U.S. News & World Report that said basically the same thing.
  • There’s even a Wikipedia entry entitled “Chinese Century” that says, “It has become a more prominent feature amongst the speeches of the key government leaders, commercial and media commentators of China in the last year.” So why would a major publication use it so prominently again?

Source: Chinalyst

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Oh cursed country

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Emily on her travel to India (Hat tip: Desi Pundit):

The unbelievable poverty, far exceeding anything we saw in North Africa. People in the eco-movement frequently express concern about how a billion people in India are upwardly mobile and will soon need energy to power their air conditioners and private cars, adding to the stress on the ecosystem. Have they actually seen the living conditions here? It is going to be a long time before most of these people can afford electricity, let alone air conditioning.

Pollution. If India’s economy does improve to the point that people can afford such luxuries, I find it hard to believe that their air quality problems will get worse. On our hellish domestic air travel day (see below) we flew over miles of rural farmlands, and even there the smog was thicker than anywhere in Los Angeles. It has not helped in our continuing attemtps to get over the towel-man’s cold.

Climate change and India

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The Guardian reports that Sir Nicholas Stern is to advise the Indian Government on climate change:

Despite Sir Nicholas’s longstanding interest in India – he lived in a village in the north of the country for the best part of a year for his early research – many question whether action on climate change in India is politically possible.

“(His) economic warnings are unlikely to find many takers in the harsh political reality of India today,” wrote Barun Mitra of the Delhi-based thinktank Liberty Institute recently in the Hindustan Times.

“About half of Indian homes today don’t have any electricity, and many who do have the connections, don’t enjoy the benefits. It will be politically suicidal for any Indian leader to promote the virtues of low energy consumption to the Indian masses.”

India unlike developed countries has low per-capita emissions however, that does not mean the future will be the same. With rapid economic development and increased use of cars, electronic appliances, rise of low cost airlines, and the increasing population, India will be a major greenhouse gas producer.

Low energy consumption is not connected to consumers only. Products and industrial systems can be designed in a way in which they use less resources and can be recycled efficiently at the end.

India has an opportunity to leap-frog the developed nations in this area.