China's Botoxed image

While Australia has the energy, enthusiasm, innovation, skills and ability to produce world quality technology and equipment, the low cost of imports limits Australian workers’ prospects for sales and installation of imported products.

Restraining this potential is a competitor that reduces the cost of its export products with government subsidies, currency constraints, lack of environmental management and safe work places. This is in an environment of increasing carbon emissions and liquid, air and solid pollutants, greater than any other single country on earth to 2020 and beyond.

Is China a developing nation?

China jealously protects its developing nation status, claiming urgent need to improve the income, health, aged care and overcome poverty.

While proclaiming developing nation status, China amassed the largest foreign exchange reserves in the global economy; hosted the most extravagant Olympic Games in history, and continues with massive expenditure on military and space. China flaunts its wealth but fails to invest in the welfare of its most vulnerable by temporarily foregoing rapid and unsustainable development.

Unfortunately, Beijing wants it all now and sees any reduction in growth as loss of face and a threat to its image and future in government.

Back to basics

From the individual to the global perspective, it comes down to what is best for plant earth, which in turn translates to survival for all nations. What key issues are fair and necessary to reduce emissions for all of planet earth's inhabitants?

The developing nations demand developed nations pay for climate change reversal. If the economies of the developed world are constrained by the cost of global warming, who will fund the IMF, World Bank and individual country foreign aid programs?

Developed nations need to maintain economic energy with domestic policies and foreign trade to meet the needs of the developing nations.

Measuring carbon emissions

There are two basic options. One relates to emissions produced by manufacturing in one country and transport to export countries.

The second is emissions produced within a consumer nation from manufacturing, energy generation, transport, product's energy consumption, and final disposal within that country.

Other penalties or taxes?

Safeguarding planet earth and its populations requires strategies beyond carbon and GHGs (greenhouse gases) alone.

Pollution exported from neighbouring and nearby countries have a devastating socio-economic impact on receiving countries. These include air, rain and surface water contaminated by industrial and municipal pollutants as well as dust from degraded farmlands laden with industrial toxins.