On Mon, 24 May 2004 04:17:50 +0900, you wrote: >>--- In biofuel@yahoogroups.com, murdoch <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >>I pay little or no attention to Kyoto and haven't for some time. I >>believe that if Global Warming really is a threat to be taken >>seriously, and I think it is, that it will take virtually all people >>on Earth to engage in climate pre-remediating energy consideration >>(for want of better words) that goes well beyond something like Kyoto. > >Indeed. As I said, it's woefully inadequate. BUT it's not as woefully >inadequate as the response to the threat of the powers-that-be, >whether corporate or national. I mean, for heaven's sake, this list >has probably saved more cabon than most governments! The Kyoto >protocol's 10 years old, but the issue itself is more like 17 - 17 >years I think since the US Congress was addressed on it, and that >wasn't a reassuring message at all.
I think we're of somewhat like mind here. I guess to me it just boils down to trying to make a list of things I don't think are worth my time, or will dash my hopes, and one of them is tempting myself into thinking I can get some global warming real action from something like the Bush Adminsitration. Their thinking is so clearly antipathetical to seeing or discussing or allowing discussing or action on some of what I think are the important issues (even the 'conservative' issue of watching out for America's future financial liabilities), that I just don't have it in me to beat my head against it. >I wouldn't be too sure about China. Yes, you caught my over-enthusiasm. I didn't express my own point of view as well as I liked. There were some reasons for my enthusiasm, though I'd take back a lot of it and present a more balanced view. A couple of years ago, my editor visited China, at their invitation, and they did seem to be investing a lot in a general way on some fronts of hedging their bets... not betting on one single transportation technology. They gave some figure as to how many people were in their colleges majoring in and studying various renewable energy technologies. I don't remember the number, but it was many many many many times the number one might give for the U.S. Hype? Undoubtedly. But probably there was also some truth to it. Then a few months ago I had a chance to confirm with someone who had visited there what I already knew: A) they are going gang-busters trying to build better batteries, including some advanced technologies. It seems like battery companies spring up there "like mushrooms in September" a Frenchman told me so eloquently. B) They are flouting Environmental standards in a very significant way in this effort. (I keep recalling a brief thing I saw on TV a couple of years ago where major computer manufacturers and others in the U.S. were caught sending waste computer parts to China where they were disposed of in ways that would damage or kill Chinese people... because we could get away with this because there wasn't much scrutiny. Many of the American companies didn't really know this was happening exactly, but they needed a way to get rid of the waste, and at the time, sending it to China was a legally acceptable and affordable way. I hope the same doesn't happen with Chinese batteries manufactured for our hybrid cars, with some Chinese living downstream from waste secretly being subjected to plant runoff and improperly recycled battery materials.) These points, plus their very large dam they recently opened (positive in the sense of planning ahead for power, arguably negative, to some, in the enviro ramifications of a large damn like that, forcing folks from their homes forever, etc. ... These points cause me to see the centralized Chinese authorities as having an interest in virtually any power source they can plan on, renewable or otherwise, that will help them hedge their bets and avoid a downturn in jobs. (Wonder how they're doing on birth control technology and laws, considering the importance to keeping population under control if we are to find ways for better energy solutions, per capita). India: I think over the years I've heard enough whisper of solar and other capabilities there that I'm somewhat aware of their good momenum. That and for right or wrong Bill Gates made clear years ago that he saw huge potential in that country, and that seems to come up every once in awhile. And, of course, in the workplace here you often run into computer professionals from India. Last comment for now on the China story: Funny how it doesn't seem as necessary to worry about copyright on a China state-ok'd story, with no author listed. ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> Yahoo! Domains - Claim yours for only $14.70 http://us.click.yahoo.com/Z1wmxD/DREIAA/yQLSAA/FGYolB/TM ---------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuels list archives: http://infoarchive.net/sgroup/biofuel/ Please do NOT send Unsubscribe messages to the list address. To unsubscribe, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/biofuel/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
