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California to sign UN compact to help China cut emissions

Discussion in 'Environmental Discussion' started by hb06, Apr 23, 2008.

  1. hb06

    hb06 Member

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    "California's agreement with the development program, a subsidiary of the U.N., follows several years of international outreach by the state."

    "In 2005, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed an environmental agreement with the Beijing Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau to help improve air quality and water quality. The agreement was amended in 2007 to further bolster California's support of Beijing's air quality programs."

    "On Monday, Schwarzenegger said the state's agreement with China recognizes that climate change requires a global solution."



    California to sign UN compact to help China cut emissions - Yahoo! News
     
  2. F8L

    F8L Protecting Habitat & AG Lands

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    I hope that the governor and others realize that air quality if much broader than simply climate change. Some people still do not buy into climate change but this should not disuade them from supporting these kinds of agreements. Air quality effects, argiculture, health, economics, ecosystem health (including human health), climate, precipitation, etc.
     
  3. Devil's Advocate

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    Its symbolic, but I would support this type of agreement, as long as the agreement doesn't use American tax dollars to give the Chinese (or anyone else) the incentive to clean up there act, but especially the Chinese. This includes "giving" them clean coal technology.

    The Chinese are sitting on over a trillion dollars of U.S. currency they can afford to pay for cleaner technology, they just don't. Yeah communism!.

    While I generally support "free" trade I do like "fair" trade better. Why not have an "environmental" tax on imports from countries whose industries don't have the same environmental regulation we have here.

    And before anyone points out how we pollute more, we pollute more by VOLUME not by OCCURRENCE. Meaning each industrial plant, for the most part, has ore environmental regulation and pollutes less than its counterpart in almost every other nation. We just have an nice person load more plants.
     
  4. tripp

    tripp Which it's a 'ybrid, ain't it?

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    I'd agree with that. The trick is triggering trade wars. The locals will whinge because all of the cheap crap they buy at Walmart is now more expensive. I personally would be willing to pay more for stuff if it was produced by people making a fair wage in a sustainable way. The planet benefits from things like that. Have cheap shite made by kids working 18 hour days, making a quarter a day is NOT something I want to be funding. The problem is that everything is pretty anonymous. It's hard to know what's going on behind the curtain.

    Personally, I'd prefer to buy stuff made locally by folks in my state. Those days seem to be behind us, though someday they might return.
     
  5. Devil's Advocate

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    I don'y have all the citations for it, but I've heard that wage inflation in China and other countries where all our cheap stuff is made is already making foreign manufacturing less appealing (except for maybe in south america or mexico). So it wouldn't take a large "green" tariff to swing manufacturing back here.

    Plus, then you could use all the environmentlaist arguments against any country that is opposes the "green" tax.