This Could Be the Most Dangerous Dam in the World

Well, isn't that the the line that someone like John Kerry takes that China is also affected by climate change So obviously they're going to have to make reforms. Let's work with them to make these reforms. Yeah, but That is true And Kerry is not wrong. But where where he's wrong is that China? Their priorities are not Improving the environment their priorities are to build an industrial state that is dominant around the the world And The welfare of their people Is takes second place. So until they've assured themselves that their Sprint Marathon maybe is a better word to become dominant in the dominant industrial power in in the world, they're not gonna They're not going to take what the steps that they need to take to improve the environment Do you think there's any is there acknowledgement in? the policy of the CCP that they do have to reckon with some of these things like The water tables, you know, or perhaps they don't really Necessarily want to deal with Like the coal power issue or things like that But is there any acknowledgement that they're gonna have to do something to solve these issues? Rhetorically there is She has started to use the term ecological civilization With the implication of you know, deep concern But granted that's he's starting to talk about that But their actions have not Followed the rhetoric I also wonder if there's any sign that they're kind of like exporting some of their The way that they've exported their excess industrial capacity through the Belt and Road, you know, so if there's Dirty mining to be done for rare earths if they if they kind of export that to Africa instead of Doing it in China or if they're exporting any of these like highly polluting or You know environmentally detrimental things to other countries well, I mean to me that's ought to be a priority for The West I mean to Use an oversimplified term. I mean, they're not only challenging us in terms of economic leadership They prove they provide an opportunity for us, you know Given You know all kinds of agreements that China has entered into around, you know over the course of the last 30 or 40 years I mean starting with the World Trade Organization But I think there needs to be more Recognition on the part of the West that for instance There they China because of their control of the rivers coming out of Tibet and the Himalayas They have a lot of leverage which they're using over Southeast Asia They potentially they could in India. I mean, you know another sort of colorful detail is China has been talking about For years a Mammoth new hydro project in the southern Himalayas that Would produce three times the power of the Three Gorges Dam and It's on the so-called Brahma Putra River Which goes into India and then into Bangladesh It has a If they carry through on their plans and it's in the latest five-year plan It would involve series of dams and tunnels That have a vertical drop of over 6,000 feet through the mountains If they do that that that would be a huge ecological bet Because you know you move is so much dirt you move a lot of water you build these huge reservoirs It's an earthquake prone area of the world so anyway If they go ahead with stuff like that, I mean that there there should be pushback From India South Asia and we ought to help them With the timber problem around the world and deforestation problem Hang on. I just want to ask about this project. This is the Great Bend mega dam. We're talking about right, right, so That they had started Planning for this many years ago, but they haven't actually done it yet. Right, right. So what like Understandably India would be Unhappy that would be an understatement Because even if it doesn't curtail their water supply it'll still have major ecological Impacts downstream, right? Right, they can they would be able to control the flow. So, you know, right the monsoon would be I'm not an expert on this but could be undercut, you know what they've done on the Mekong River has tended to really hurt the Aqua the fish industry fish ponds which in Cambodia for instance provide something like 60 or 70 percent of the protein and you know the diets of that population they've harmed the rice harvests and in Vietnam, so How did China harm these the fisheries and the rice harvests like what was the mechanism for that? They control the flow and there are cycles when you got to you know, plant the rice you got to Feed the ponds and that sort of thing. So there's natural cycles that Fishermen and and rice farmers are used to Historically right and then those change because China's arbitrarily changing them by releasing or holding water and yeah You know, there's a big drought a couple years ago in southern China. So they kept more water and the rice harvest in Vietnam If I remember the numbers right 30 40 percent below Average harvest. Oh, wow. So and back to this great day Bend Dam I'm skeptical that they will ever build it that they keep talking about they can keep putting it in their five-year plan I mean, is there something India can do or is doing to? dissuade China from Working on that project. Well, they talk about it Right, I mean we talked with China about climate change but right I Get frustrated when I try to understand what the Indian leadership is doing. I mean I can find You know read the regional governor of the area that would be directly affected You know says you can't trust the Chinese. We can't let them do this But Whether or not the national government will come in strongly. I can't find an answer to that question I wish I could But you know, we can talk about it as well. I mean we negotiate with the Chinese over all kinds of stuff, right? That should be higher on the list Deforestation in Brazil ought to be higher on the list of stuff. We talked to him about so I remember we had a Bolivian activist on the show once and she was talking about how China has encouraged the deforestation of the Amazon in Bolivia for Beef production. So this is this is all over Latin America