Sep 9, 2006 2:20:00 PM cite

Lijun Fang: If every Chinese people wants a car, there would be over 1.3 billion more cars in the world. Not only Chinese, but also billions of Indians, Cambodian, Indonesian, Malaysian and all other people may want a car. The problem is not how many people want a car, but that the door to human desires has been opened interminably. How can we close the door again after it is open to such infinite possessive desires?

by Lijun Fang

Sep 9, 2006 2:20:00 PM cite

Lillian Holt: Yes, what if all Chinese people want a car? That’s an amazing scenario. I doubt that everyone literally could have a car, but given the fact that there’s a billion people in the area, about, regardless, even a percentage of that is going to have some sort of probably catastrophic effect on oil and oil production. And hopefully, in the end, what turns out to be the end is hopefully a new beginning. And maybe it might precipitate the crisis that is ultimately coming or is even required immediately, I might say, sadly, in order to bring about some possibility of alternative uses of energy. We may be forced to look at exactly how we live and the way we just take anything for granted and expect that nothing will every run out. And maybe it’s only when this crisis comes about that we actually do something about the situation.

by Lillian Holt

Sep 9, 2006 2:20:00 PM cite

Livingstone Maluleke: This will lead into a chaotic situation if everyone in the country owns a car. This would mean there will be shortage of the road surface. There will a shortage of parking and of course there may be[influence of the accidents rate that may go very high. But at the same time, this will also create issues related to global warming because then there will a depletion of resources. More resources like petrol, diesel would be needed so that there will be -- to meet this kind of a situation. Also, there will be lot of pollution as a result of the many vehicles that will be going around using petrol, going around and indeed there will be pollution as such. Also the cars that will cause a lot of accidents will also be one other element that would be observed in this scenario. Therefore, it is not a very good thing that the Chinese wished to have a car at least; but if the situation allows, the minimal use of motor vehicles in a country is also encouraged.

by Livingstone Maluleke

Sep 9, 2006 2:20:00 PM cite

Mae-Wan Ho: You know, as a Chinese person born in Hong Kong, I feel somewhat that this is a modern version of the yellow peril that there is a hysteria about what if all the Chinese were going to eat meat, what if all the Chinese are going to get a car. Well the answer is not as straight forward as you think, because cars can be very efficient. They don’t have to be gas guzzling and in fact you can run -- you know, if you get waste from energy you can generate -- for example, methane can be harvested from biological wastes. And for a country like the UK for example, I’ve done a calculation showing that if all the biological wastes were treated by an aerobic digestion and the methane harvested then we can satisfy more than 11 percent of all our energy needs. Furthermore, methane can be used as a fuel for cars. It’s just like natural gas and you can make an engine that uses methane and they are the cleanest cars, they’ve been voted environmental cars of the year in 2005. So, running cars on methane not only prevents greenhouse gas from going into the atmosphere, it can substitute for a country like the UK, 50% of the fuel requirements for running cars and that is fantastic.

by Mae-Wan Ho

Sep 9, 2006 2:20:00 PM cite

Mahsa Shekarloo: Well, Andrew, don’t worry about Chinese people wanting a car. Worry about automobile companies turning their greedy gaze and attention to the Chinese people as one billion potential automobile owners. That’s what should terrify us all. And there’s no stop to this. The demand is not creating the supply. The supply is creating the demand. We need to worry about these companies, not the people of China.

by Mahsa Shekarloo

Sep 9, 2006 2:20:00 PM cite

Martin Almada: The result would be a grave global contamination. For the time being, we can't do anything about the use of cars. It is hard to live without cars. That's why it is urgent to promote eco-cars, i.e. cars that use for example solar energy, electricity and biodiesel. This is the answer we give to that question.

by Martin Almada

Sep 9, 2006 2:20:00 PM cite

Masami Saionji: It causes the increase of CO2 in the atmosphere. Thereafter, global-scale catastrophes happen through global warming, losing forests (or forest destruction by fire), desertification and so on. Currently, it is said that there are more than 1,000,000,000 people in China. If all of them want to have a car and drive it, I think it is not necessary to say exactly what is coming next. However, we cannot say the Chinese people to stop have a car. This is because we (the people in developed nations) enjoy this civilization. For example, many families in developed nations have one car or two, three cars. Because of this civilization, we have many global problems, such as, warming temperature, water and environment pollutions and so on. Therefore, we can make use of our problems and experiences in China. For instance, we can develop new cars without using a drop of oil, and produce environment-friendly products. Through eliciting human wisdom, we can produce innovative cars and build innovative civilization. I believe it is possible that we build up a new and different (or better) civilization based on reflections of developed nations.

by Masami Saionji

Sep 9, 2006 2:20:00 PM cite

Masuma Bibi Russel: Andrew, you are from Germany. If the Chinese people start to have the car, that can you imagine the German car industry will go down straight away, because they will start to produce. But, beside that could you imagine, all these bicycle makers, and all these rickshaw pullers and all these people, will be so much unemployment, and there will be so much pollution unless they use all this now the diesel and everything. But I think, it will be very funny for me to see all the Chinese people using car, not anything else, because in China still they use lot of bikes and rickshaw is there, big danger for all these car making countries, you know, Germany, Sweden, France, Italy, because, sure, definitely then they will produce their own car. So, it will be very funny.

by Masuma Bibi Russel

Sep 9, 2006 2:20:00 PM cite

Mayank Mehta: If all Chinese people owned a car, we will all stop driving cars very soon, and it is not that if all Chinese people owned a car, all Chinese people would want to have a car, since you and I want to have a car, why not them? So, it’s inevitable. It’s only a question of time and money and with time that is just like our dreams in the past is coming closer to realization and then, as we discussed it, the previous question is if the cars are the way the cars are today, with the amount of energy they consume and the amount of energy we consume in our daily lives is the way we consume today, then we will not have enough oil to run this stuff, let alone the impact of the amount of greenhouse gasses that we generate by running so many cars. Yes, it will be a difficult proposition, and it is inevitable too. We will run out of these things. We will run through more and more. People in the third world will get wealthier, as they should, and they’ll have more resources. As they have more resources, they will use more resources, and therein lies the difficulty. So, this is not if, the question is not if, the question is when, and when is not far away, and so we have to start planning for those things right now and not wait for that if thing to happen. The way to do that is to invest clearly in these resources and pay attention to these people who make noise about it, as we are all here making noise about it. Hopefully it goes to some good end.

by Mayank Mehta

Sep 9, 2006 2:20:00 PM cite

Michael E. Tigar: Andrew, from Frankfurt, this is the best question of the day, so far as I am concerned. The first thing that it requires it to confront is, that if all Chinese people want a car, then many Chinese people will realize that their aspiration for cars or wherever else it is that they want, simply cannot as Chinese society is now organized be satisfied. Having left many of its socialist principles behind, the growing inequality between rich and poor in China guarantees that that's going to be the reaction, if all Chinese want a car; but most significantly, if many Chinese began to want and then to acquire cars, the inevitable harm that was spoken of at the beginning of this session is going to happen. Petroleum prices will continue their sharp, upward movement and economic chaos in the West at the most or at the very least the grim, inevitable realization that something has to be done about the excess consumption of these fossil fuels in United States of America and other Western countries, is going to be impressed on people's consciousness. And so, a changing Chinese pattern of consumption can help the rest of the world realize that with respect to these scarce and dwindling resources, we are all in this together. And that moment when realize that we are all in this together, will be a decisive and defining one because it could be an opportunity for increased conflict and tension or an opportunity to take the next step forward. Good question. Thank you.

by Michael E. Tigar

Sep 9, 2006 2:20:00 PM cite

Michael P. Totten: As a life-long bicylist, who far prefers a bicycle to a car, I can’t understand why anybody wants a car. I certainly hope the Chinese would view cautiously the trouble that vehicles have caused in many countries. The China is the kingdom of bicycles. And just recently there was an announcement, a high-level announcement that they want to retain the title of kingdom of bicycles. Really, what most people want is mobility and they want access. You can design smart cities as they are doing in Kung Ming with their sister city of Zurich, Switzerland to make their urban centers both transit-friendly, bicycle and pedestrian-friendly. And then, China is also leading and looking at electric vehicles and there is even some early developments on PEM fuel cell bicycles, and I meant electric bicycles. The bicycle gives 2500 miles per gallon based on the extra bowl of rice or oatmeal that you need to bicycle. It’s an extraordinary tool, one of the best human inventions. When we get to vehicles, we really need to think about innovative designs that are at least five or more times efficient than the current level. This is detailed in Winning the Oil Endgame by Amory Lovins and his colleagues. You go to oilendgame.org, which notes that just in the US we could by 2025 be taking $70 billion dollars a year net energy, assuming of a low oil price of $25, or figure twice that with, or even three times that at $50 to $75 a barrel that we are seeing today. This can all be done through both an efficient improvement of all of our vehicle systems, whether they are the cars, trucks, airplanes, but combined also with freeing up natural gas to efficiency-savings setting that could be used as part of the transport system.

by Michael P. Totten

Sep 9, 2006 2:20:00 PM cite

Mohammed Arkoun: Thats a question which is typically european, occidental and eurocentrical as it comes from Germany but it could also come from France or from the United States. In the United States as well as in Germany there are families which have four or five cars, one for each son or daughter and thats considered as normal. And if the chinese do not interfered people would cotinue to have several cars and to feed the car industry and everything would be great. But there is the perspective that each chinese could have a car or that each chinese family could have four or five car thats like terror as this destroys the tranquillity of our spirit as everybody profitated for a long time from this possibility. This is a way to ask questions without critizising the questioner. Thats about the mood of european and occidental subjectivity which considers the advantages and the privileges as absolutely acquiered and this already for a long time. And its not imaginable that they could be replaced by a form of equality, the right for everybody in the world to have a car as there are the Indians, which is also very populated, there is Russia, there is the entire african continent, so why not? So we have to exit this egoistical logic and to enter a more humanstic logic of distribution of chances and opportunities and not keep alive this division of the world where me, I can have and the other can not have.

by Mohammed Arkoun

Sep 9, 2006 2:20:00 PM cite

Mohau Pheko: Look, I think that I don't want to just say what if Chinese people want a car, but I think what if everybody in the world wants a car, granted the Chinese have a fast-growing population and I think that there is a consciousness within the Chinese government that is recognizing that because of their huge population numbers, they have to find different modes of transportation which respect the environment. So, I think that we have to certainly begin to create different ways of keeping people mobile and moving from place to place, and I think that it creates a wonderful opportunity for us to look at different ways of creating public transportation systems that enable millions of people to move from one part of city or one part of the country to the other. But, I think that already throughout the world, there are such amazing ideas that are emerging as citizens become more conscious, where people take bikes out on the street, this is not happening in Africa, for example, there we don't even have user friendly trails in most of our countries in terms of ensuring that people have the opportunity to use different transportation methods. So, I think that we have got to really look at this holistically as citizens of the world to ensure that we build transportation systems that are beneficial to the environment.

by Mohau Pheko

Sep 9, 2006 2:20:00 PM cite

Monira Rahman: Well, what if everyone in this world want a car? Will it be a standstill? Will you be able to use that car? Do we need a car for everyone? I think it is important that the government is making facilities for transport for everyone. Obviously, a public transport system has to be strengthened and enhanced and therefore the people have better access to the public transport. If it is like this, the public has more access to public transport, then obviously it will not encourage having car for individual person. Well, it is also that people want a car just for their profession and luxury, but it is important to regulate that from the state so that it's not going beyond the capacity of the infrastructure and which is not needed, even for that; the question is for having the mobility. If the mobility is there for having public transport and using that and having access to this public transport, so why do we need to have individual car?

by Monira Rahman

Sep 9, 2006 2:20:00 PM cite

Nadja Halilbegovich: Well, although Andrew is asking about all the Chinese people wanting a car, and I will actually answer that as well, but first I want to say that this question really made me think about all of the countries, all of the people in the world and their individual impact, especially with ours driving cars, and it is a huge impact we are having with just driving more, all of us want cars, all of us want that freedom to go wherever we please, and the highways, the streets are being more and more clogged with cars, and we are creating more pollution and we are creating air quality that is not good for our health, it is not good for the environment, for our planet. Chinese people, well of course, it is, you know, a scary thought to think that everyone in a very developed, populated country would want a car and would want to drive a car, but I think in the grander scheme of things, we need to think about everyone, not just Chinese people, but all people from all over the world who as I said want to drive cars and want that independence and the alternative has to be found. And as I said in the previous answer, hybrid cars, cars that are more energy efficient, that spend less gasoline, driving less, you know and just taking public transport or walking or biking or sharing a cab with someone or sharing, you know, car pooling with someone, all those are alternative ways that you can still get to places but not pollute so much. So definitely there are alternatives and I am sure we can even think of some more, but I think our first step is the realization that no, we can’t continue just buying these big, big cars and big SUVs or vans or whatever that really spends a lot of gasoline and polluting the world, polluting our air, the air that we breathe.

by Nadja Halilbegovich

Sep 9, 2006 2:20:00 PM cite

Neela Marikkar: It’s a great question. Well, why shouldn’t they, why shouldn’t they be entitled to have a car. I think they have as much right as anybody else in any other country. They already have 350 million mobile phones, so think about that. I mean, economic progress is going to lead to all these additional needs. Let me put it this way, what about if not only all of China, what about if all of China and all of India wanted a car, I mean you are talking of a huge number then. I think what is important is that the world has to put its head together about looking for a clean fuel, looking for other ways of dealing with alternative energy sources, because as the world progresses, as people get more prosperous, their desires and their needs and wants increase, and they are going to feel they have every right to it, and they do have a right to it. So, I think, the challenge is, how do we manage it, and manage it in a way that people can still have what they want, but it doesn’t impact drastically on the environment.

by Neela Marikkar

Sep 9, 2006 2:20:00 PM cite

Oliviero Toscani: Not just Chinese, everybody want a car, everybody – there a lot of Italian, French and German people don’t have a car and they want a car. Everybody wants a car of course. Why shouldn’t they have a car? Of course that is – and an Indian, what about Africa? Everybody wants a car, probably something else and probably even worse than a car. And the car get better, they get worse in a way until they all look the same. It is actually what those car manufacturers actually wanted. Everybody wants a car. So, we should go on like that because nature want us to do that. All want to do wrong because nature want us to do that. It’s naturally that we do what we do. You know, the real ecologists are the one who do their own thing. They think that we think they are against the nature is not true. Actually nature wants those kinds of people doing that so they get – they will destroy them self quicker. Nature doesn’t like us. If I would be nature, I wouldn’t like a human being. No. Making war, killing each other, it’s – we are a wrong – the wrong creation of nature. We are the mistake of the creation. We are the mistake of the genesis. We are what – and that’s why we are interesting. That’s why we still have to do a lot to become civilized. You know, that we don’t need to protect nature anymore. Probably we would be that we are civilized.

by Oliviero Toscani

Sep 9, 2006 2:20:00 PM cite

Oscar Olivera: Well, they wanted, there would appeare Chinese people with the wish to have a car, this would then have [inaudible] cars with Chinese people.

by Oscar Olivera