It influenced the figures. By skewed people usually mean figures became wrong or not reflecting reality.
No, I'm not implying that.
COVID-19 virus thread (formerly Wuhan coronavirus)
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Well yeah, the averages don't reflect reality. Quite the opposite in fact. When you consider that a third of their population is still living an agrarian lifestyle and they are still the world's single largest polluter, that makes you wonder how much more damage they are going to cause as they continue to industrialize.
That's why I think it's pretty safe to assume that only taking their industrialized population into account, the Chinese probably produce much more pollution per capita than any Western nation.
What percentage of their industrial output is consumed by Western countries?
PPQ_Purple
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Which is exactly what is happening here.
How does that matter? Seriously, I like China over the west, especially america as much as anyone you'll meet but even I feel you are basically looking for a way to paint China as good and the west as bad.
Irrelevant. Our consumption of their goods doesn't prevent them from finding more ecologically friendly ways to manufacture those goods.
Our lifestyle and level of consumption is the main burden for the planet. Regardless of where consumer goods are produced.
How can it not matter? If I buy a widget from china, and the manufacture of said widget required the release of 1Kg of CO2, then surely I am somewhat responsible for that 1Kg of CO2.
Old Hippy
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not quite irrelevant , if we ( the World ) stopped our consumption of Chinese goods, just somewhat then the Chinese would not have to import so much coal from Australia and this would have the effect of making it not ecconomically viable to open new coal mines in Australia and thus giving an incentive to them (China) of actually finding more ecologically friendly ways to manufacture those goods
This would make the left and greens very happy... as a side benifit to all Ausralians
Again, irrelevant. My consumption habits have no bearing on China's industrial or environmental regulations.
I would say though that the onus is on China to move to cleaner energy sources. And rather than change our consumption habits, our governments could apply pressure on China to make those changes. For example, Australia could begin refusing to export coal to China or sell it to them at prices they can't really afford to pay.
Not regulations but they do influence actions and it is actions that cause the damage.
Farm Boy
run boy run
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Sounds like the sort of thing tariffs are for. At least, that seems to have always been the justification Europe has used on us.
It's your choice how much you consume and where to buy goods from. My point is you can't put all blame on China for polluting environment if you create large part of demand for goods it produces. If you don't like their regulations, vote with your dollars, buy more expensive and more eco-friendly stuff elsewhere.
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Chieftain
The reason for that is simple if we only talk about bats. The most obvious reason is bat meats are rare, so someone at some point is ought to try it like any luxuries. I don’t know if bat is tasty or not, but I heard that it is quite a popular cuisine in Indonesia or Vietnam or another Southeast Asian country, I admit I never seen it on their menu. But in general, Chinese people do not seen bats as even remotely edible, so this particular action of eating bats is most likely limited to someone who are both very rich and very stupid. But when we consider the matter not limited on bats but on other wide animals there are much more interesting things to discuss which I will add later.
Places that have undergone serious famine find ways to survive and that usually involves eating things that are less common. China has had many famines. Those foods once eaten in desperation have become exotic meals for the wealthy. In the US south slaves learned how to every part of a pig and so we now have a wide variety of pig related dishes that have become commonplace.
Bamspeedy
CheeseBob
Have they determined the source was people eating bats? Last I heard the theory was a bat bit another animal and then humans ate that animal. In SARS it was believed to be from bats to civets, one theory in Wuhan was from bats to snakes.
More common to eat rats than bats in China (even then it isn't that 'common'). Saw a large rat held in a bucket at a rural 'pick your own strawberries' vendor, if not to be offering it for sale, don't know why it would be alive.
More common to eat rats than bats in China (even then it isn't that 'common'). Saw a large rat held in a bucket at a rural 'pick your own strawberries' vendor, if not to be offering it for sale, don't know why it would be alive.
New England lobster once had the distinction of being fed to prisoners and livestock, the "cockroach of the sea".
Completely unrelatedly, AI detection of global outbreaks of disease is now officially a thing: https://www.wired.com/story/ai-epidemiologist-wuhan-public-health-warnings/
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Chieftain
It is never confirmed that the disease went from bats to human directly, the bats got the attention from other factors. The first thing is eating bat is extremely uncommon even considered all other exotic flora and animals, plus almost all bats have not so appetizing look, so it makes a good topic on media. On the more serious aspect, it is confirmed in 2017 in China that bats are the original host of SARS, and scientists have already found the new virus on bats and they are quite early in terms of generation of host, which makes it vital for tracking the source. The last thing was bats has unusually high metabolic rate with ability to restore its own DNA and all other cool stuffs that makes it super immune to lots of deadly virus, studying it can be fruitful in other research.
A lot of people find bats creepy and scary and evil, but I look at them as being vital participants in the fight to not be eaten alive by mosquitoes, particularly if they're carrying West Nile virus (thankfully I'm too far north to worry about malaria).
The concern here about bats is due to rabies, if an infected bat bites a dog or cat, which passes it to a human.
But nobody here would eat one.
The concern here about bats is due to rabies, if an infected bat bites a dog or cat, which passes it to a human.
But nobody here would eat one.
aimeeandbeatles
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How to know
Chieftain
A lot of people find bats creepy and scary and evil, but I look at them as being vital participants in the fight to not be eaten alive by mosquitoes, particularly if they're carrying West Nile virus (thankfully I'm too far north to worry about malaria).
The concern here about bats is due to rabies, if an infected bat bites a dog or cat, which passes it to a human.
But nobody here would eat one.
Creepy as they are, traditionally we view bats in a very different way. In my hometown bat pattern are used in decorations on openings to guard evil things. In Chinese, the pronunciation of bats, “Fu”, is the same for Fortune, and they are considered sacred in Daoism for relief people from curse. Their symbolism are especially important in times like New Year so you can consider the eating thing as a very bad omen.
As for Chinese cuisine, originally we eat almost all parts of animals to avoid wasting food, now it is more out of genuine appreciation for taste and traditions, I guess it is the tradition parts that many people don’t understand. As different region in China has their different cuisine, the traditions differ as well so the only animals we all eats in common are the usual beef, lamb, pork, chicken, duck, etc.
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