Westernizing, and Killing Us All

THE CHINESE AND JAPANESE, over the last few centuries, gradually realized that the Europeans were on their way, then came the americans, and they had to decide what to do about it. They chose different paths. The Japenese decided "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em, and, 'long about 1860, began to change their culture and their country. They modernized their political system, began their own industrial revolution, and created a modern, capitalistic economy, willing, imitating the Americans, ready, willing, and able to do business with anyone and everyone. The Americans, Teddy Roosevelt in particular, were most impressed, flattered to be imitated, and T.R. suggested that the two countries cooperate in conquering, dominating, and exploiting China, to which the Japanese readily agreed. Later on, however, when the Japanese were conquering China, in the 1930's, another Roosevelt, FDR, decided that he didn't like it one bit, and, well, it ended up getting sorted out in World War Two. The Chinese responded to the imperial westerners differently that did the Japanese; they used denial. They tried to run and hide, which did not work. Then,they went communist, and kept hiding. Finally, about twenty years ago or so, they made the same choice Japan had made oever a hundrfed years earlier: if you cain't beat 'em, join 'em. So now we see in China a flourishing and rampantly growing industrial and capitalistic economy, capitalism, yes, but controlled by the state, by the communist government, ironically enough. China is growing so fast economically that soon it will be bigger than the United States, and might very well rule the world in the 21st century, the way the United States did during the 20th century, and still does, sort of. The chinese are building one new coal fired electrical plant every week. One per week. Now they are starting to turn their abundant coal supply into artificial natural gas, and to do this they are builing big new plants, with extreme speed. The problem is that all this coal being used in China is killing us all, the Chinese first. Their air pollution is horrible, worse than it ever was even during its worst days in america in the 1970s. And to think, if only they had done it our way from the git go, they'd be past this destructive stage of industrial development by now, and, like America, suring onward into a more earth friendly industrial future. They are putting an incredible amount of carbon into the air, and there is no way they can stop, because they invested huge amounts of money in all these coal burning plants, hundreds of them. So, in a nutshell, we're doomed. One thing you can say though, is that people who do not believe in man made global warming climate change are going to start believing in it, and very soon.