[SyzygistSix]

Can you imagine the magnitude of the humanitarian and environmental crisis China would be if they had not industrialized and joined the global market? A country that size full of uneducated farmers and first generation coal power plants would be a nightmare for everyone, not just China.

[rorroe53]

Well, the planet would be better off without Chinese middle class and elite flying around and buying stuff. Countries that are full of poor "uneducated farmers" tend to have much lower carbon footprint than richer ones, even with the higher birth rates. Despite its admirable investments in reneweable tech, China still keeps building new coal plants as well.

[jeffreyq]

Would your comment read any differently if you replaced "Chinese" with "United States", or "France", or any other Western civilized nation?

I'm curious to understand why China is to be blamed, exclusively? Correct me if I am misunderstanding your premise.

[OfSanguineFire]

Carbon isn’t the only pressing environmental damage though. For example, Madagascar is an island full of poor “uneducated farmers”, and it is precisely their farming that has been deforesting the island through slash-and-burn agriculture, a practice that has accelerated over the centuries due to the high birthrates.