…
As Chinese companies have increased their overseas mining operations, allegations of problems caused by these projects have steadily risen.
The Business and Human Rights Resource Centre, an NGO, says such troubles are “not unique to Chinese mining” but last year it published a report listing 102 allegations made against Chinese companies involved in extracting critical minerals, ranging from violations of the rights of local communities to damage to ecosystems and unsafe working conditions.
These allegations dated from 2021 and 2022. The BBC has counted more than 40 further allegations that were made in 2023, and reported by NGOs or in the media.
Why are you bringing up building more highways? Why would more highways need to be built? There are plenty of highways and there are plenty of rail lines. The question is if building lines to electrify all of the rail lines in the world would be done fast enough with a low enough carbon output to mitigate climate change.
Because if it can’t be done it quickly enough, it’s not a good solution except in the very long term.
Well first of all, because we began this conversation with you claiming there isn’t any better option than battery powered vehicles… But mostly, because we are talking about a transportation network that will need to accommodate the continued growth of the population. We clearly don’t have enough highways, just look at how bad congestion is in the vast majority of our larger cities, look at how much we are expanding the highways we already have. We clearly don’t have enough rail, just look at how dependent we are on semi trucks for long distance shipping.
The only way to relieve this growing traffic problem is to make our transportation networks more efficient, and the most efficient and green form of transportation is electric rail, and by a large margin.
It’s already happening… As I said 1/3 of all rail is already electrified, with the majority of unelectrified rail being located in the US. We are one of the only large countries that utilize diesel engines for the majority of our rail network. Just look at Europe and Asia and see how much they are investing into highspeed rail. America is the only place that rejects public transportation options, and it’s almost entirely to protect fossil fuel and vehicle manufacturers.
Couldn’t you say the same about electric cars? How long do you think it’s going to take to get Americans to replace over 250 million vehicles with combustion engines on a volunteer basis?
I still don’t know why you are dying on this particular hill, especially considering you are clearly ignorant about the topic? You literally thought that all electric trains were battery powered… What gives you the confidence to be so bold, yet so wrong?
Seriously, don’t take my word for it. Just set aside your biases and do little research about the topic and I’m sure you would agree. There’s a reason why the most progressive state in America on climate initiative is dumping billions into highspeed rail, and there’s a reason why conservatives are spending millions to try and stop it.
You’re still not telling me how much carbon output would be generated by electrifying every rail line on the planet.
Lol, I don’t see how that pertains to this argument? You haven’t answered a number of my questions, I’m just not choosing to be pedantic about it.
You’re not telling how long it will take to replace every car in America, or what the carbon output of that replacement and disposal of old vehicles would be.
Stop being an academically dishonest ass, and just admit you are speaking out of ignorance.
Odd that I’m not answering the questions you asked after I asked mine, isn’t it?
Expecting me to answer them first seems dishonest to me…