ChinaDialogue: Latest responses to Global warming’s local solutions

[TRANSLATED] Chinese government should take global warming seriouly

Mon, 08 Sep 2008 07:46:27 +0000

As shown by natural disasters such as typhoon occurring in recent years, global warming is getting more and more severe. I suggest the Chinese government should take actions to tackle global warming in the following ways: 1.Publicize the "global warming" knowledge to the public,to inform the public about the hazards of global warming, and therefore raising the public awareness of environmental protection. 2. Enact a Law on Environmental Protection, to standardize business/ factories on reducing emissions of carbon dioxide, and using of efficient and environmentally friendly technology. 3. Strengthen international cooperation on tackling environmental issues and work together to deal with global warming

[TRANSLATED] Some opinions on comment 8

Sat, 14 Apr 2007 10:58:52 +0000

I'd like to express somes opinions on comment 8.From the perspective of taking the earth as a whole,the temperature is never constant. Whenever in Devonian, Permian or Jurassic it was hot sometimes. It can be known easily from the name —ice age that it was a cold period. So paleontologists think it’s the sea level descending caused by super-cooling and the sea water oxygen shortage after the temperature restoring result in the first and second creatures extinction. Although I don’t think it should be polluted without control, I suspect whether it is useful. With the increase of the per capita demand and no tendency of population decrease, the problem is just the matter of time.

re:Re: Doubts on global warming

Sat, 24 Mar 2007 02:18:23 +0000

Thanks for your information about the integrity of the documentary. And I do agree with you that "we are in this together". It's a worldwide problem for every country, to face and deal with.---Hu Feng

Re: Doubts on global warming

Fri, 23 Mar 2007 23:08:43 +0000

Hu Feng - There is something wrong with: 1) Agreeing with the claims of the documentary - that global is not man-made, and that it is a 'swindle'. And 2) Saying global warming is happening, but we shouldn't be fighting it. The two claims contradict each other - it's not enough to give both arguments. As for the first point: Carl Wunsch, a scientist who appeared on the show, who said he was "completely misrepresented" by the programme, and has categorically disavowed his involvement in the documentary. More detailed scientific arguments on the show can be followed on websites such as realclimate, suffice to say that the programme's journalistic integrity was very flawed, and should be questioned rigorously. Personally, I think it's worth looking at a report like the one the IPCC has just produced, if you want a more scientific, reasoned approach to global warming. As for the second point: If we agree that climate change is happening, then I agree absolutely with you - developed nations must take the lead. I live in the UK, and I support the country creating legally-binding targets on emissions - even at the expense of slowing our economy. I also think individual consumers in rich nations should be making sacrifices - giving up their cars, etc. But, as you say, we do need a dialogue, and a serious one. And that means asking difficult questions, and not simply saying that developing nations can bear no responsibility for the problem. Hu Feng: we are in this together, whether you like it or not. Let's get past these simplistic arguments and think seriously about international dialogue on climate change and how to reduce consumption, before we both drown.

[TRANSLATED] Doubts on Global Warming

Wed, 21 Mar 2007 14:51:54 +0000

Recently I have watched a documentary about Global Warming, The Great Global Warming Swindle, broadcasted on Channel 14. This show invited a number of environmental issue specialists as guests to debate over the hypothesis ‘Global Warming is Human Made Problem’. The experts questioned the validation of this claim after scrutinizing the global warming issue from various standpoints: historical, economic, and political perspectives, outcomes based on environmental researches, and media outlook. They concluded that citing carbon dioxide increasing in atmosphere as the primary cause to global warming is false. They argued that the effect of CO2 accretion would take one hundred to two hundred years to appear, and research data suggested that solar activity intensity is more directly, and measurably linked to global climate change than CO2 is. While the global warming has increasingly became a topic addressed to political agendas internationally, the western nations advocate reducing CO2 related energy consumption by switching to solar and wind power as an answer; however such measurement is not a feasible to developing nations, especially Africa nations. It is unrealistic and absent of humane consideration.I hold health doubts about the points presented by both camps; those who claim ‘global warming man made’ and those who deny. Environmental deterioration, global warming is undeniable reality to us; however as to the cause and a solution to the problem, we need to further scientific study to reach for a conclusion. Elements in the nature are functioning correlated; it’s impossible to explain a whole phenomenon by a single ‘cause and effect’ relationship. To make progress on environment protection, developed nations should take the lead, and should not command developing nations to do the same. Developed nations should not leverage environment protection as a tool to curtail the economic growth of developing nations, thus to gain political and economic advantages for themselves. These days, clean energy is in demand and its market is expanding. The question is how to ensure environmental protection and economic development will work together for a win-win situation. We need a dialogue platform between nations. In these days, people like to follow trends and to ride on high tide; this show offered a valid counter point to the Global Warming Man Made claim. ---- Hu Feng

[TRANSLATED] Straw burning consumes the carbon in the air

Sun, 18 Mar 2007 14:02:32 +0000

Thanks for the comments and suggestions. However, I hereby must clarify that it is the carbon in the air that is consumed by the straw burning. The carbon was cumulated by the photosythesis of the crop during their living year, because most of them are annual crop. The crop use the carbon in the air to photosynthesize, and then store energy and materials, which are the exact energy consumed by straw burning. Coal is the result of the photosynthesis of plants 300-500 million years ago. If excessive carbon is produced by burning large amount of coal, then there will be not enough time for the chemical reactions happening in the atmosphere to consume all of it. That is why the levels of carbon dioxide keeps increasing. Therefore, the difference between straw burning and coal burning is extremely large. Straw burning which consumes the carbon which exactly comes from the air previously will not increase the level of carbon dioxide. Someone mentioned the soil will also cause carbon emission. This is not true. The emission relating to the soil is caused by the microorganism and roots of the crop, it has nothing to do with straw burning. Obviously, nitrogen of the crop will be lost through burning, even some feeding stuffs for the livestock, that is why I introduce methane production for power generation. The crop used for burning should better be those that are not feeding stuffs, such as cotton crop and wastes from forestry industry.

[TRANSLATED] CPPCC member: Interest groups are overplaying global warming impacts

Sat, 17 Mar 2007 12:27:33 +0000

Yan Zhao City Paper on 5th Mar reported that Huo Yuping, an academician with the Chinese Academy of Sciences, also a professor of Zhengzhou University said on the sidelines of NPC&CPPCC meetings that the surging panic due to "global warming" is exaggerated. He thinks that Chinese government should not reduce resource consumption. He warned that excessive emphasis on global warming will restrain the development of some developing countries, such as China and India. It is impossible for these nations to make progress with no resources. He thinks that one can only take the responsibility when its economy is advanced enough to find the substitution, for example solar or nuclear power, and make it as the major way of power generation. If it does not reach this phase, then it must continue using fossil fuel for power generation. He criticised the media, including someone in the government of making use of global warming to make big headlines in the academia. He also blamed some particular interest groups, like China National Petroleum Corporation. "because they care about the oil interest rate." He said.

[TRANSLATED] Appreciate different point of view

Sun, 18 Mar 2007 05:07:16 +0000

Regardless of Huo's being right or wrong, we should firstly allow and encourage different points of view. One of his point was lost before, that is "i have done studies and researches myself". Chairman Mao once said, "no investigate, no say-so". Huo has done his own investigation, so he should say his opinions aloud. There are many environmental issues being exaggerated, in order to make big headlines. It is good for Professor Jiang to advocate cutting use of fossil fuel, but the one in substitution, the straw production for power generation, is almost the same as using fossil fuel. Both methods will produce carbon emissions. Global warming is a major concern of the academia, but their opinions may not be correct and the situation keeps changing. Here I ask a question, those who want to know more about global warming could think about it: why does green gas, but not the heat during the production of it cause global warming? -Aturen

[TRANSLATED] Renewable sources and climate change

Wed, 21 Mar 2007 01:35:11 +0000

Climate change seems to be the most challenging issue faced by the world nowadays. Renewable sources, as the substitution of fossil fuel, is surely an effective method to fight against climate change. However, renewable resources are costly at present, while fossil fuels are much cheaper. Generalisation of renewable resources cannot be achieved by only depending on the companies, consumers and the market. Governments should make effective policies and regulations and offer financial supports to further encourage the fundamental research and market extension. Furthermore, as a responsible country, China should do its own contribution to reduce the temperature. What should be pointed out here is that, climate change is caused by the fossil fuels used by the developed countries after Industrial Revolution. These countries must act firstly. Although China has a large amout of population, and its fast development causes more emissions of green gas, its average amount of emission is still lower than that of the world. China should make its own efforts on tackling the issue of climate change, such as the efficiency of resource using, clean resource adopting and avoiding the heavy pollution and emission appearing in the industialisation of the developed countries. However, China should not take the main responsibility of cutting the emission.

[TRANSLATED] Some points of view

Fri, 16 Mar 2007 16:10:32 +0000

When people are still worried about how to make a living, and are busy trying to fill their wallets, they cannot think about environmental issues. When people spend their days indulging in material luxury, and are concerned with how to find happiness and excitement, they spend even less effort on heeding the environment around them. Could it be that only when we have attained a so-called communist society, and people's every desire has been satisfied, that we can start thinking about whether the air around us is fresh or not? Could it be that we have to tread the path of foreign countries, polluting as we develop only to turn around and deal with the problem afterwards? When one considers China's environmental problems, they are truly very difficult, and can only be resolved when the nation takes them seriously, the government effectively manages them, and the people cooperate.