Robert Pape

Well, they did, but this was during the air apocalypse, which your listeners can also look up.

So the air apocalypse was the worst atmospheric pollution that we have had in any urban area probably here in about 100 years.

We used to have this in, say, London here.

Long time ago in the 19th century where there was so much soot in the air from all of the chimneys that were churning out all this coal-driven energy here, it was literally pitch black at noon.

So when it's when it's you're at in Beijing, you have to wear an N95 mask.

This was before COVID.

That's the first time I wore an N95.

And I still went, even though maybe I should know, but I still went because I wanted to see what it was really like.

And I wore the N95 here.

So I saw some and I used to call it, you know, you said that China had the one child policy.

I called the air apocalypse the one parent policy.

because i said what's really half joking only half i said china's got a doesn't want to have japan's problem too many old people how do you do that you have a lot of pollution and and i and but now what's happened in the last uh 10 years is they've gone huge into solar as most people know well what does that mean far less pollution far less pollution

here and you know that because you go to the cities and they literally don't have like the air apocalypse i was there i physically was there uh where when you take off from beijing the airport in beijing at noon and it's totally pitch black once you're at 15 000 feet the sun okay this is this was this is real problems you know big problems not just poverty

And so I saw it, but I also see China, they're cleaning things up, and we gotta get moving here, Patrick.

We gotta stop talking we're gonna get moving and just deciding that certain billionaires are gonna fund their companies or help their companies get ahead.

We need to do more.

I have pictures – Ten days apart.

That's right.

And also then in – so in 2015 when I went to Wuhan, you would see Wuhan – because it's a steel – it's more of a steel company, a steel –

if you had a picture from wuhan 2015 there yeah there you go there you go i was literally giving talks in wuhan that's exactly right and then i went literally last june okay and it's just a different it's a now it does it ever get like that it probably still does some but i'm just pointing out that over time what is happening here is changes occurring in china