But it’s used and has no planes. China bought the vessel in 1998 from Ukraine and had it refurbished – few details of its capabilities are known. But, from Reuters, “defense experts say it lacks the strike aircraft, weapons, electronics, training and logistical support it needs to become a fighting warship.” And so it will stay …
Continue reading “China launches its first aircraft carrier”
There are now more rich people in East Asia than in North America. Both have around 3 million millionaires and there are 11 million worldwide. But don’t forget about the little countries. Japan still has three times as many millionaires as China. And, if the rest of Asia were to unite they would …
Continue reading “Occupy Asia – there are more millionaires in East Asia than North America”
Andrew Revkin from Dot Earth explores whether China will soon switch to natural gas and the answer appears to be, yes. Reports showed that China — which was once considered gas poor — now has estimated volumes greater than those of the United States (which are, as you know, enormous). With the two greatest economies on Earth …
Continue reading “Forget about renewables, we are entering the gas age”
A fascinating piece of curation from Brain Pickings. Ten centuries of anatomy drawings covering everything from Civil War wounds to anti-tuberculosis flyers from China. For the past 175 years, the The National Library of Medicine in Bethesda has been building the world’s largest collection of biomedical images, artifacts, and ephemera. With more than 17 million items spanning …
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US media write little about the men who run #China. Here’s a great piece in Foreign Policy on the next cohort. foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/… — Andrew McLaughlin (@McAndrew) August 13, 2012 It is a great piece that shares little known facts about the Rising Tiger, like all the elites dye their hair black (usually with “jet-black …
Continue reading “The 9 members of China’s communist party who rule the country”
Curbing tobacco use by growing less In China, 350 million people smoke. Each year, 1 million die from smoking. Many more become disabled. Approximately 20 million Chinese farmers produce the world’s largest share of tobacco, nearly 40 percent of the global supply. A compelling story of how one scientist created a for-profit organization for the …
From the Fresh Energy blog and a good reminder that most experts have trouble thinking exponentially. WIND In 2000, the International Energy Agency (IEA) published its World Energy Outlook, predicting that non-hydro renewable energy would comprise 3 percent of global energy by 2020. That benchmark was reached in 2008. In 2000, IEA projected that there would …
Continue reading “8 clean energy predictions from a decade ago…that were way wrong”
China said Thursday it would offer $20 billion in new loans to Africa, underscoring the relationship’s growing importance, as Chinese companies agreed to operate more responsibly on the resource-rich continent. Beijing has poured money into Africa over the last 15 years, seeking to tap into its vast natural resources, and China became the continent’s largest …
Continue reading “China doubles loans to Africa, now $20 billion, and agrees to operate responsibly”
A refreshing, well-balanced look at climate change in America. You don’t have to be a climate scientist these days to know that the climate has problems. You just have to step outside. The United States is now enduring its warmest year on record…Meanwhile, the country often seems to be moving further away from doing something …
Continue reading “A refreshing look at climate change in America – what are we doing about it?”
The official position of planet Earth at the moment is that we can’t raise the temperature more than two degrees Celsius. Some context: So far, we’ve raised the average temperature of the planet just under 0.8 degrees Celsius, and that has caused far more damage than most scientists expected. (A third of summer sea ice …