One thing we, as a technologically advanced country could do, is help them out with technology. For instance, I was just in Vietnam and the number of scooters there is mind boggling. But 15 years before I was in Thailand, and it was even worse pollution. They have switched from 2 stroke to 4 in that time, and it made a big difference. But the sheer numbers have increased so much that it is probably a wash.
Well what if we helped bridge them into electric scooters? I think that's one area were electrifying makes a huge amount of sense, and have a much greater impact on air quality and global emissions than most anything we can do here. I did see the odd electric scooter there but I think this is the type of change that would allow them to not be held back in their advancement, but be very impactful. Their obviously needs to be technological advancement, but it doesn't seem pie in the sky. And if were were really serious about reducing emissions, maybe some sort of global peering, where a wealthy country "adopts" a poor one, and our carbon tax of some sort goes to a reduction in their emissions by discounting the cost of zero emission scooters. It seems like an easy win for CO2 reductions. Much easier than trying for incremental improvements on our side. Anyway, just one thought...
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