Chinese now visiting peak oil sites?
by Aaron Dunlap
Aaron of peakoil.com has posted a map, apparently showing the location of visitors to peakoil.com. One surprise in Aaron's map is the number of visitors from China. -BA
More interesting is that this Chinese traffic is new for our site. Around 4 months old.
Before that... nada.
Not a single IP I could identify as a mainstream Chinese visitor.
Then suddenly... poof.
I suspect that our site, along with some others have been taken off the filtered site list in China's firewall.
This probably represents a change in policy for China.
We welcome our Chinese visitors of course & hope to bring them into the conversation eventually.
Locations of visitors to peakoil.com. There's one huge dot around Beijing...
But it's quite significant that these new cyber-friends are here at all, & carries an important message of hope in my humble opinion. As the "new" wears off of the Internet, & a more genuine discourse becomes common, previously impossible things become possible.
It is exciting & unprecedented that people world-wide are discovering how little difference there really is between "us & them". The Internet is particularly useful in this process...
By shedding the outdated mindsets of our isolated forefathers our human civilization is creating new possibilities for human potential.
I'm a 42 year old American technology worker. So I have watched the Internet being born & growing from it's humble beginnings, to the present day. And over the years I have acquired many close friends & colleagues who I work with on a daily basis in various capacities. I trust & value these friendships like any other in my "real life", & consider many of these folks as an extended family.
And I have never "met" any of them.
It must be a daunting prospect for the powers that be, to contemplate this brave new world with millions freely associating unfettered by geography.
Forging new relationships & sharing insights released from traditional divisions, the foundation of how people view themselves & their "tribes" will never be the same again.
Could the answer to our human problems really be something so simple?
Just how many generations will the divisive nature of our ancestors survive in the digital age?
Is saving mankind from the most painful aspects of resource depletion really just a question of bandwidth?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Editorial Notes ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
UPDATE (Nov 13): Aaron has just posted more detailed maps and statistics. -BA
News coverage of Chinese energy issues has been spotty. There are hints of moves towards sustainability and energy awareness. Some commentators, like those at WorldChanging, talk of "leapfrog" technology which will bypass the inefficient infrastructure now in other countries.
And yet energy use in China continues to rise, as do greenhouse gas emissions.
Whichever direction China goes, the results will be stupendous. China has amazed the world during the 20th century, and may well do so again. The energy and ingenuity of the Chinese people are not to be underestimated.
Welcome, Chinese readers!
==========
Se Hablan Espanol. |
