[Chickensoup]

The turn of the twentith century in the US and England it was not any better.

We are looking at their growth through our 21rst century eyes.

[GeronL]

Are you saying they are 100 years behind?

Thank gawsh Kyoto failed because they would be the future

[ClearCase_guy]

The turn of the twentith century in the US and England it was not any better.

I think this misses important differences. If you go back in time, you find a country (UK or America) with maybe 50 million people. And lots of coal dust. And bad mining practices. And inadequate sewage facilities. Not good, but not devastating.

In China, you have 1.3 Billion people, massive 21st century levels of industrial production, powerful chemicals of every kind being dumped everywhere, huge areas of deforestation. I could go on and on.

It was a shame when London had "fog" (smog) but China is far beyond that level.

[Last Dakotan]

The turn of the twentith century in the US and England it was not any better.

It was a different time. There was neither the understanding of what harm was being done, nor was the technology there to avoid it. Neither can be said about China today. The leadership simply doesn't seem to care.