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BEIJING - White House officials have lauded President Xi Jinping's anticipated promise of a national market for China in greenhouse gas quotas as a breakthrough in environmental cooperation and reform. But to work well, Mr. Xi's plan, expected to be announced in Washington on Friday, will demand big changes from a government accustomed to heavy-handed intervention and skewed statistics.

I really like the cap and trade idea because it ensures that the every firm is paying the maximum amount each is willing to spend to pollute the air. Firms that don't value being able to pollute as much can sell their permits and use the money to become more environmentally friendly. The cap and trade method encourages technological change that reduces the harm from each unit of a firm's product. As the article says, "The intended result is a competitive market that induces companies to devise ways to reduce emissions." The cap and trade method will hopefully relieve China of some of its pollution.

The national environmental quota set by the cap and trade announced by President Xi shows that there is some possibility of environmental cooperation from China, one of the world's most heavy polluters. The article voices the well founded skepticism of critics, who doubt that this new system will work well when it hasn't exactly taken off among the nations of the European Union; however, China's state is very different from its western counterparts. Comparatively, it can exact more control over its countries' businesses and factories, so this system just may be successful.

This article is related to one that Curtis posted. Basically, China has a monopoly over "rare earth metals" which are vital for " wind turbines, advanced batteries, disc drives, flat-screen TVs, smart bombs," etc. The point being: it would be very bad if the rest of the world was cut off from these materials, especially for green-energy. Currently there is worry that China will become the new Saudi Arabia, except with rare earth metals instead of oil. However, we should carefully examine the facts before we brand China as the big bad materials-hog. There are some very interesting points on multiple sides of this debate in the article.

So apparently my post on Jack's article about the new 5-year plans was a little wrong. China plans to boost consumerism as well as seriously up their green industries. Which is good for them, but bad for the rest of the world. It is a little bit sobering to think about how green technologies do rely on mining - even green things still have negative environmental impacts. I guess almost everything does; maybe the least environmental impact would come from switching back to pre-industrial era technology, but that's awfully inconvenient. People have developed these technologies because they work really well and/or make our lives so much easier and more comfortable.

New York Times

"China ordered construction halted on a high-speed rail line due to violations of environmental rules, the latest sign of greater government scrutiny of the country's high-profile fast-train expansion, which has already been jolted by corruption and debt concerns..."

"Georgism and environmental economics" "Herman E. Daly"

Though any short-term relief to the environment provided by the pandemic won't have any meaningful impact in mitigating climate change, I still believe that the 'nature is healing' narrative was helpful in allowing people to see the benefits of slowing down and being more conscientious, and how that can benefit the environment.

This was a really interesting article because it both proved and disproved some of the environmental news we were told at the beginning of the pandemic. I think it would be interesting to compare the greenhouse gas emissions of countries during the pandemic that were tough on lockdowns versus those that were not and see if there is any correlation.

While Mexico is democratic and civil society is prevalent, corruption in the government and the danger posed by cartels mean big problems for activist who oppose either. Lacking government sovereignty has made it much easier for the country's cartels to carry out murders and corrupt judges have made the possibility of consequence slim.

Important article, Matteo. I'm not clear what you mean by "Lacking government sovereignty." I think you are referencing the fact that the cartels have more firepower than the police, so they can strong arm what they want? And corruption, of course, is rampant, in and out of government. How might a country with these problems return to a rule of law? It's an important question for the US as well, in the area of gun violence. Countries that have substantially lower levels of gun violence than the US have all sorts of (not necessarily the same) measures in place to keep gun violence down. Is there something about the political culture of the US that makes this impossible? Or is there a way to change the culture?

Well, we all know we make cars, and we know Japan makes cars, but China makes cars? Apparently, they actually have the worlds largest auto-market, and the industry is expanding rapidly (just like everything else in China). Thought it might be interesting to know that the family car of the next century may no longer be a Honda or a Toyota, but some Chinese variant. Let's not even think about the environmental impact of the new car needs of China, or the effect even cheaper cars will have on the US auto market.

This article is about India's preparations for the 2010 Commonwealth Games. There are accusations of corruption while footbridges collapse and athletes' dorms are considered "uninhabitable." There appears to be no central authority in charge of the event, leaving many to criticize India's political culture.

It's interesting to compare India's troubles in organizing the event to China's flawless execution of the Olympics. The article mentions that China had an easier time because, as a Communist state, it was able to relocate people and suppress objections fairly easily. In contrast, India, as a democracy, faced many delays caused by people refusing to move and protests by environmental groups. India also has a much more corrupt bureaucracy.

This is video evidence on the toxic pollution caused by Texaco, bought by Chevron, which now refuses to take responsibility to clean it up. A family friend used to be a geologist and work examining soil quality. The company she worked at got most of their business from (I think) Chevron. Chevron (or some other company) would finish with well sites and then neglect to clean them up/ make them safe. When environmental agencies requested that Chevron examine and clean up their left over sites, Chevron made our friend's company file a report saying that they were "monitoring" the site to see what happens. Basically, instead of working to help the environment, they were helping a big petroleum company squirm out of taking responsibility. She eventually quit her job because 1) it wasn't what she had hoped it would be, and 2) there was nothing to do all day, since one of their only jobs was to report that sites were being "monitored" and meanwhile do nothing. NOTE: take this story with a grain of salt, because I don't remember the conversation perfectly, nor do I know the details of her job, the company, the situation, etc... this is just my general recollection.

Yeah I sort of feel ignorant right now because i honestly had no idea that that was going on. I am shocked at how blatant that is. When i first saw the oil on the ground i was like wow that horrible but then i was even further horrified with i realized that it was so blatant they even put a pipe connecting it to the rest of the forest for drainage purposes. It is unbelievable what huge corporations do to the world and make a huge profit by polluting someone else's backyard. :( awesome video though Heather. Thank you for educating me

Last year Latino Club went to see "Crude" (Heather, I think you went too) and it only built off of what you see in this video here. The rivers that he was saying would get contaminated are used by different villages and many people developed cancer and other health problems from the oil in their water. It's appalling what Chevron did and, as you all said, how few people know about it.

When I normally think of China's vast economic growth, I have a negative image ingrained in the back of my mind. This image surrounds the ideas of the environmental degradation, the unsafe working conditions, and the fact that they are by far surpassing the United States. However, China's economic prowess has lifted 500,000,000 people out of poverty. But, it is still not perfect: China's economy depends heavily on exports to global economies thus, when these markets experience recessions China is affected. The 2008 United States Recession had a significant impact on China's fiscal success. It is suggested that China is not yet stable. Because the Communist Party is largely in-control of the government, the nation is experiencing political, social and strain. The workers are also beginning to speak out. It is interesting to watch as China rapids morphs more and more of itself into a massive economic and industrial powerhouse.

A video about e-waste going to China. Towards the end of the video, a recycling company called Executive Recycling is examined and revealed to have exported waste to China despite claiming to use environmentally sustainable practices, presumably to make profits.

Bullet services to 'stay slow' during checks-investigation of "I've also learned from the investigation of the (Wenzhou) accident that many workers were actually working 24-7 (to meet deadlines), and multitasking can cause a series of problems," he said.

HSR in California: NY Times Magazine

The environmental/electrical crisis is creating unlivable conditions for the nearly one million children living in Gaza.

Norwegians voted in a parliamentary election on September 12th-13th, with growing economic inequality, climate change, and oil dominating the political issues. The Labour Party candidate, Jonas Gahr Stoere, is leading in polls, expected to beat incumbent conservative Prime Minister Erna Solberg. Climate change has surfaced as a key issue among voters, leading an increasing number of seats to go to members of parties that would curtail Norway's oil and gas drilling, a major source of jobs for the country. Though Stoere may become reliant on left-leaning parties to claim a majority in parliament, the Labour Party candidate has rejected ultimatums over oil, citing major job loss, and instead promised to cut the countries carbon emissions.

Interesting to see Norway's political shift and hopeful class shift with new parliament leaders.

Good job finding a non-American source, Ershai. . .the Irish Times! "the Labour Party candidate has rejected ultimatums over oil, citing major job loss, and instead promised to cut the countries carbon emissions." , , , how? Too bad that in this case, labor and environmentalism seem to be political opponents.

Posted this because line 3 was completed recently, and is scheduled to start function soon. Sad to see the protests and opposition were unable to stop its completion :( I know EJI is planning on raising funds to pay for those who were arrested in the protests.