Did Folks Really Think That Africans Were Going To Stay Impoverished Due To Some Hypothetical Future Climate State?

[AlleyCat]

Did Folks Really Think That Africans Were Going To Stay Impoverished Due To
Some Hypothetical Future Climate State?


Why Africa is turning its back on the eco-obsessed West

The developing world needs rapid growth, not lectures on sustainability.

The Western democracies appear united in their support for Ukraine, but they
may also be losing the bigger, more consequential battle for the loyalties of
the developing world. Virtually no developing country - including democracies
like India, Brazil, Nigeria and South Africa - has chosen to take steps
opposing Russia's aggression (in fact, South Africa may have joined Iran in
sending weapons to Moscow). This is a stark reflection of the West's waning
influence.

The West is losing not because the developing world wants to genuflect to
Vladimir Putin, or to his liege lord, Xi Jinping. Instead, we are seeing a
growing disconnect between Western "values', including on critical issues like
food and energy production, and the needs of developing countries, many of
which have struggled since the pandemic. In a period of steadily rising costs,
countries such as Egypt, Pakistan and India are refusing to sanction Russian
oil, allowing Moscow to match its pre-war oil exports. China has also boosted
its oil purchases from Russia, as demand hits record levels.

Unlike the affluent West, people in these countries still believe in future
growth. When searching for a modern Marshall Plan, they look increasingly not
to America or Europe for support, but to China. China has spent hundreds of
billions of dollars in bailouts for developing countries. This is not without
its risks, to both the developing world and to China itself, though it has
undoubtedly increased Chinese influence.

Critically, the Russian war has accelerated calls for global trade to be
conducted in currencies other than the dollar, like the yuan and the rouble.
Left-leaning leaders in the US's traditional Latin American sphere of
influence, such as Brazilian president Lula da Silva, are especially keen to
end the dominance of the dollar.

The once-marginal alliance of BRICS countries, which met this week for talks in
South Africa, represents a counterpoint to Western dominance, especially as it
could soon be expanded to include new members such as Iran, Argentina, the
United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Bahrain and Indonesia. China's coup in bringing
Saudi Arabia and Iran to the table presages what could be its role as a
dominant global hegemon. Meanwhile, presumed US allies in the Middle East are
moving closer to Russia in defence matters. This stems less from China's or
Russia's power or persuasiveness, but more from the fact that the West is
simply not offering enough to countries in the developing world, particularly
to those on the brink of bankruptcy.
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Africa will be increasingly crucial to geopolitics, in part due to its
domination of many critical minerals - notably cobalt, coal and uranium. It is
also the only part of the world likely to experience significant workforce
growth in the coming decades. By 2050, United Nations projections suggest that
nearly 55 per cent of the world's population growth will occur in sub-Saharan
Africa, where fertility rates are still relatively high. From 2050 to 2100,
Africa is expected to account for almost 100 per cent of the world's population
growth, as populations plummet elsewhere.

African and other developing countries need to grow. They do not - indeed they
cannot - embrace Western assumptions about culture, politics and, most
importantly, the balance between economic and environmental goals. As rich
countries age and worry about both their pensions and the planetary future,
poorer countries are more focussed on how to improve conditions for the rising
generation. Net Zero orthodoxy, with its embrace of degrowth and austerity, has
little appeal - particularly as residents of wealthy countries, despite all
their boasts about solar panels and wind farms, already use 23 times more
fossil-fuel power than the average African.

It's not that Africans are indifferent to their environment. It is simply that,
as Nigerian vice-president Yemi Osinbajo has noted: "No country in the world
has been able to industrialise using renewable energy." Banning fossil fuels
just means that developing countries will struggle to follow in the footsteps
of the developed world, notably those in East Asia.

Fundamentally, the green movement represents the worldview of rich-nation
elites who now feel able to pivot towards expensive alternatives. In contrast,
India, the most important and potentially powerful developing country after
China, has made no secret that it plans to develop coal and other fossil fuels
as part of its drive to industrialise.

The West expects the rest of the world to implement green-energy requirements
through various mechanisms and channels such as development aid, financial
support, bilateral and multilateral agreements, and investments tied to ESG
(environmental, social and governance) requirements. However, what is ignored
by these rich nations is that climate change is not considered a pressing issue
by Africans. According to polling conducted by Afrobarometer, a pan-African
research network, the most pressing issues facing Africa are unemployment,
health and education. Across the 34 countries surveyed, unemployment is a
significant concern for Africans aged 18 to 35, ranking as the highest and most
critical issue in every country. This is followed by approximately one-third
(33 per cent) of African citizens identifying health as one of their top three
priorities, coming just above education (29 per cent).

Climate change does not make the list. The reasons are not hard to fathom.
Africa is home to many of the roughly 3.5 billion people worldwide with no
reliable access to electricity and are most vulnerable to high energy and food
prices. It is no surprise that Africans increasingly ignore the West and, in
concert with China, are building new fossil-fuel plants (coal consumption is at
a historic high), as well as hydroelectric and nuclear facilities, all of which
are anathema to many Western greens.

To make matters worse, the EU is already considering carbon taxes on imports in
ways that could cut African economies off from global markets. Under the
proposals, a surcharge would be levied on carbon-intensive imports to nullify
the cost advantage non-EU countries enjoy by virtue of not being subject to
such stringent CO2 rules in their countries of origin. The sectors that will be
hit first are cement, iron and steel, aluminium, fertilisers and electricity.

Africa may be poor, but it is growing. Over the past two decades, it has
enjoyed average annual GDP growth rates ranging between four per cent and six
per cent. However, much of this growth is tied to resource production, not to
the "knowledge economy" or to services. High commodity prices, especially in
the past two years, have been critical to sub-Saharan Africa's economic growth,
just as they have helped Russia and Iran survive Western sanctions, and have
created a vast new boom in the Gulf. Africa needs to maintain these growth
levels if it is to ever catch up with the rest of the world. According to World
Bank data, sub-Saharan Africa has a per capita income of just $1,600, compared
with the world average of $11,000. Yet such growth would simply not be possible
under the West's decarbonisation regime.

Green efforts to reduce agricultural output, which are being trialled in the
US, Canada and Europe, could have particularly profound consequences for
billions in the developing world. These countries need more food production,
and not just the organic food preferred by Western oligarchs and non-profits.
They know that the adoption of the sustainability agenda precipitated a
breakdown of Sri Lanka's agricultural sector and the ensuing violent overthrow
of its government last year. China, itself faced with a potential agricultural
shortfall, could well start to view Africa as an ideal place for feeding its
population in a cost-effective way.

The very things places like sub-Saharan Africa need - new energy sources,
growing export markets and capital - will not be easy to procure from stagnant
Western economies concerned largely with satisfying their pensioners. Africa
can provide the labour the world will need, even as it urbanises and reduces
its demographic growth. The question is whether Africans will work closer to
home, or in the rich, child-short cities of the developed world.

What is clear is that these poorer countries do not have the luxury of slow
growth. Their workers need to find work either domestically or internationally
in order to improve their lives. These countries certainly cannot grow their
industrial production when their electricity grids are already close to
collapse.

These factors have underpinned the developing world's reluctance to embrace the
Ukrainian cause. As the West puffs up its collective chest, China, an emerging
financial as well as trade giant, has become Africa's largest trading partner
as well as its leading creditor. Russia has strengthened its trade relations
with African countries through energy partnerships (including on nuclear
power), military cooperation and technology transfers.

But the growing divergence between the developing world and the rich West also
extends beyond just economics. Many ideals that have recently taken hold in the
Western world will likely lead Africa, India and other developing countries to
seek other partners. This includes such things as the rise of wokeness and an
increasingly disdainful view of traditional values.

In a recent survey of cultural attitudes, it turns out that Protestant Europe
is the most secular and "modern" part of the world, followed by Catholic Europe
and the English-speaking world. The West functions economically as an "empire',
but seems to detest its own culture and heritage. This has made it harder to
defend those Western values which really are worth propagating - such as
democracy, free speech, racial equality and sexual freedom. On the other end,
the most traditionalist countries are located in Africa, the Islamic world and
even Orthodox Europe, reflecting Russia's imprint. In much of the world,
Western liberal values seem sadly out of place. In some places they are
outright resented, such as in countries like Ghana, Kenya and Tanzania, among
others, where homosexuality is outlawed.

At the same time, Western hand-wringing over the actions of some states could
push them further away. It is "suicidal', as author Walter Russell Mead puts
it, for the West to ignore authoritarian or even democratic states in Asia or
Africa simply because we don't like all of their internal policies. These
countries, he notes, would rather get something like an airport or a dam than
another lecture from privileged emissaries from Brussels, London or Washington.
The fact that some Western countries, notably France, seem ready to make their
own accommodations with China suggests that the much ballyhooed solidarity of
wealthy democracies may be greatly overstated.

Many Western ideals - belief in open markets, the rule of law and an openness
to racial diversity - have contributed to prosperity in Africa and could do so
even more in future. But to bring these blessings, the United States and Europe
need to abandon their assault on prosperity and progress. Developing countries
are not necessarily looking forward to a Chinese-dominated future, but the West
has to give them reasons to look elsewhere. It is time for the West to drop the
lectures and step up its game.

=====

June: Soooooo Hot!

Brazilian Cattle Freeze To Death

Sea Ice "Unusually Close" To Icelandic Coast

Western Canada's Growers Are Warning Record-Low Temperatures Could Drop Their
Yields By As Much As 50% This Year

Blizzards Batter Australian Alps

Australia's BOM Denies Shepparton Its All-Time Record Low - Inexplicably Raises
Temp 1.1C

Utah Sets New Avalanche Record

Greenland's Summer Snow And Ice Gains Intensify

Exceptional Cold Strikes B.C.

Heavy Summer Snow Hits Canada And U.S.

Low Temperature Records Felled Across Australia

Scandinavian Ski Resorts Save Record Piles Of Snow

Australia's Cold Front Intensifies, Drops A Foot Of Snow

Rare June Flakes Clip Stevens Pass, Record Cold Yakima

World Still Waiting On First 50C (122F) Of 2023, Latest In Decades

California: "Where Are The 100s?"

Record Cold Australia

Historic Lows And Rare Snows Besiege South America

Greenland Still Gaining

Coldest May On Record North Of 80N

Historic Greenland Snow/Ice Gains

Cool Italy

South America's Extreme Temperature Drop

"Coldest May On Record North Of 80N"
Historic Greenland Snow/Ice Gains
Record Cold Europe
Greenland SMB Climbing
Mt Washington's Snowiest June Ever
California's Summer Snow At 13 Feet
Thick Ice Forces Russian Ships To Take The Long Way Round
Record Cold Across Belarus And Latvia
Chill Stretches Perth Power To The Brink
Alerts Issued As Cold Front Smacks Western Australia
Freezing Lows Sweep New Zealand
June Snow In Colorado
'Gold Rush 2.0" Thanks To California's Historic Snowpack
Impressive Greenland SMB Gains
Bone-Chilling Lows Grip Northern India
Extreme Chills Grip Northern Europe
Shimla's Record-Cold Start To June

[JTEM is Remarkably Flexible]

AlleyCat wrote:

> Did Folks Really Think That Africans Were Going To Stay
> Impoverished Due To Some Hypothetical Future Climate
> State?

Absolutely. They even said so. From the beginning. Go watch
the 1980s "After the Warming" BBC "documentary." They talk
about the overly generous deal where Europe makes up for
it's carbon deficit by putting a bunch of low-energy refrigerators
in a communal hut, and taking all their "Carbon Credits" in
turn.

And I talked about this when Europe gave a pile of cash in loans
to Africa for building "Green" infrastructure. Not only wasn't it
enough money to actually build such infrastructure but Africa
is notorious for the amount of embezzlement that goes on from
such transactions. So it was debut without a means for
repayment... "That's okay, hand over your carbon credits in
return."

THIS IS WHY the Eurotrash are going absolutely mental over
China building coal plants for developing nations. They are
allowed to under the "Climate Agreements" -- they get so many
"Carbon Credits" and because they're underdeveloped they
can use them to burn coal and have plenty left over.

BUT THAT WAS NEVER SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN!

They were never supposed to use energy themselves. They
were supposed to hand over these "Credits" to Europe as
payment for debts and whatever...

China is evil but there is one thing they are doing right: They
are actively undermining the Gwobull Warbling mythology.

They are not complying, and never have. They are perverting
it, gaming it, just like the EuroTrash, but as a weapon AGANST
Europe.




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