Comments on: China and incentives for sustainable development http://www.eastasiaforum.org/2008/07/18/china-and-incentives-for-sustainable-development/ Economics, Politics and Public Policy in East Asia and the Pacific Sun, 12 Feb 2012 22:50:38 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2 By: Global Challenges of from China’s Rise « East Asia Forumhttp://www.eastasiaforum.org/2008/07/18/china-and-incentives-for-sustainable-development/comment-page-1/#comment-568 Global Challenges of from China’s Rise « East Asia Forum Sun, 20 Jul 2008 05:21:43 +0000 http://eastasiaforum.wordpress.com/?p=197#comment-568 [...] Is Development Sustainable? Jeffrey Sachs sees the world as having to move from industrial development to sustainable development. [...] [...] Is Development Sustainable? Jeffrey Sachs sees the world as having to move from industrial development to sustainable development. [...]

]]> By: Tiddlywinks on Climate Change « East Asia Forumhttp://www.eastasiaforum.org/2008/07/18/china-and-incentives-for-sustainable-development/comment-page-1/#comment-567 Tiddlywinks on Climate Change « East Asia Forum Sun, 20 Jul 2008 03:10:12 +0000 http://eastasiaforum.wordpress.com/?p=197#comment-567 [...] All the evidence (during the oil crisis of the 1970s and now) is that it is the change in the relative price of carbon fuels that leads to their economisation and the investment in the new technologies that reduces their use. When pressed, even Jeff Sachs admits that there is no technology fix for unsustainable development without a change in the price we pay for carbon emissions one way or another [Sachs video here and summary of speech here]. [...] [...] All the evidence (during the oil crisis of the 1970s and now) is that it is the change in the relative price of carbon fuels that leads to their economisation and the investment in the new technologies that reduces their use. When pressed, even Jeff Sachs admits that there is no technology fix for unsustainable development without a change in the price we pay for carbon emissions one way or another [Sachs video here and summary of speech here]. [...]

]]> By: Bradhttp://www.eastasiaforum.org/2008/07/18/china-and-incentives-for-sustainable-development/comment-page-1/#comment-566 Brad Fri, 18 Jul 2008 06:14:49 +0000 http://eastasiaforum.wordpress.com/?p=197#comment-566 Geosequestration of liquid CO2 is in fairyland. It is carbon negative, high cost, high tech, could take 20-30 years to develop,and even then it may not work! We cannot camble on pumping CO2 underground and hoping it never leaks. The low cost, low tech method of carbon sequestration that was proven to work 7000 years ago in the Amazon Basin is biochar. This gets around an unspoken complication of trees as carbon offsets. Trees only sequester carbon for the life of the tree, then release it again when they die and rot. Converting the wood to low temperature coarcoal is a long term (virtually permanent) way to sequester carbon, plus it biochar also improves soil fertility. The rich, dark anthropogenic soils of the Amazon Basin called terra preta are proof that it works. It is the way to help kill two birds (carbon capture and food shortages) with the one stone. Nuclear power is not sustainable either. Uranium is another natural 'resource' which is not renewable. There is only a finite amount of uranium in the ground and it is already being dug up faster. We already know the dangers of peak oil so it would be insane to invest so much in more nuclear power when we could be as little as 20 years away from "peak uranium". Geosequestration of liquid CO2 is in fairyland. It is carbon negative, high cost, high tech, could take 20-30 years to develop,and even then it may not work! We cannot camble on pumping CO2 underground and hoping it never leaks.

The low cost, low tech method of carbon sequestration that was proven to work 7000 years ago in the Amazon Basin is biochar. This gets around an unspoken complication of trees as carbon offsets. Trees only sequester carbon for the life of the tree, then release it again when they die and rot. Converting the wood to low temperature coarcoal is a long term (virtually permanent) way to sequester carbon, plus it biochar also improves soil fertility. The rich, dark anthropogenic soils of the Amazon Basin called terra preta are proof that it works. It is the way to help kill two birds (carbon capture and food shortages) with the one stone.

Nuclear power is not sustainable either. Uranium is another natural ‘resource’ which is not renewable. There is only a finite amount of uranium in the ground and it is already being dug up faster. We already know the dangers of peak oil so it would be insane to invest so much in more nuclear power when we could be as little as 20 years away from “peak uranium”.

]]>