Editor’s note for July 12, 2023
A note for Access newsletter readers from Jeremy Goldkorn.
Dear reader:
Our top story today is about extreme weather events, and measures the Chinese government is taking to deal with floods and heatwaves and mitigate the effects of climate change. These include using artificial intelligence to predict dangerous weather, but also China’s extraordinary adoption of renewable technologies for power generation and transport.
But new technology cannot solve everything: China is the world’s leader in hydropower, but this summer, droughts mean that many hydro turbines are idled, so coal must be burned to power factories and air conditioners. (Click through for details or scroll down for a summary.)
The Chinese government is refreshingly practical about these problems, and Communist Party rhetoric about climate change is unusually free of ideological waffle. For example, state media today has been reporting on a Xí Jìnpíng 习近平 speech which includes sections about the need to find a balance between economic growth and reducing energy consumption.
Our Words of the Day are:
Yellow, orange, and red alerts for high temperatures (which warn of temperatures above 35℃, 37℃, and 40℃ respectively)
高温黄色、橙色和红色预警信号
Gāowēn huángsè, chéngsè hé hóngsè yùjǐng xìnhào
