Using Coal is polluting, the same is true for gas and oil. Now you can't use hydro power because it is damaging to the ecological system. Now China is already the largest producer of solar and wind energy in the world but the share of these outputs is minuscule compared to hydroelectricity and coal so it is obvious solar and wind energy is not the answer. The only thing left is nuclear energy.

The short article "The Strong Force is Almost With Us" by Henri Kowalski (http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/kowalski1/English) states that nuclear energy was suppose to be the godsend of the world providing cheap energy for all but the situation is very different as the technology dates from a half-century ago. There has been relatively little advancement in the design of nuclear reactor as well as little progress into how to properly and efficiently dispose nuclear waste. These problems stems from the lack of understanding of the fundamental processes of the subatomic world.

Therefore, the solution is to fund scientific research into nuclear processes and develop the engineering know-how into constructing next generation reactor with better safety and controls.

Is this going to be easy? Absolutely not. Is this going to be expensive? Absolutely yes. And is this going to take extensive amount of time? Yes and this is why the initiatives should be so great because the sooner you deal with the challenges now, the easier they are to implement later on.

If the Chinese leadership is serious about the future of economic growth, it would weigh the alternatives and conclude that nuclear energy would to be the only way to alleviate the enormous energy demands but this can only be accomplished if there is substantial investment into the research and development of nuclear energy.

It would be in Chinas intrest to revamp the Grand Canal System for several reasons, one of which is the Tourist Dollars. The article, although quite factual, lends itself to the complaint that no other alternative engineering project could resolve so many problems with similar speed and economy. Itwould have been interesting to discover other engineering proposals. It is also a little short sighted to play down the benefits that the Dam has created, More than a mention should be made of the energy this engineering project supplies to its nation. New York City can be seen duringthe day as a thrivingand exciting metropolise, but at night it can be seen as a first-class garbage dump. It would have been nice to show a pleasing photograph of the Dam in its full glory, instead of photograph aftert photograph of trash and garbage.

In Yangzhou Province many of the main roads were once canals and many fine bridges can be seen with a little footwork. China is an ancient country and has ancient and inherited problems both natural and man made, it behooves a developing nation to improve the lot ofits citizens, using the best availible tools and knowledge society currently has. China's shortsightedness in building the Dam, if it can be called this, can be profitably compared to the changing of the American President every four years, whereby a new fresh program of development often replaces the previous administrations.

"The article, although quite factual, lends itself to the complaint that no other alternative engineering project could resolve so many problems with similar speed and economy."

Great points all around too.

Let's get to the root cause of the problem here: You have a country with over a billion people, and resources are scarce. By building these dams you will certainly face environmental repercussions, but not building them would mean that people in certain areas will face drought every year. There are alternatives but none which are cost effective.

So what is the real lesson here? Controlling human population growth is a good thing.

The PRChina with its engineer CCP leaders are educated (by PRC universities) and trained to be engineers (they are not educated or trained abroad). They are technicians with a slide rule who chase farmers off their land, flood entire river valleys, summarily displace huge numbers of their population into the higher hills and more distant mountains because of arbitrary methods and diktats that exclude compensation and the rights and obligations of all sides in respect to the rule of law under such modern notions as emminent domain especially.

Engineers I know from democracies are entirely different. They consider all factors, human, physical, economic, socioeconomic etc and are subject and accountable to genuinely elected officials, a critical factor PRChina technocrat apparachik engineers don't even have to think of or consider; never will.

The fact that China with its population of 1 400 000 000 is a freak of nature country and people makes it difficult in the extreme to manage and develop the place as a whole. The CCP fails miserably as did emperors and dynasties before the present young and stumbling CCP dynasty (most previous dynasities were from Mongolia). That the Chinese always have wallowed in self pity over their victimization whether by nature or man just doesn't help to find creative and constructive ways and means to deal most effectively with the inherent woes of the place.

In fact, the engineer dominated CCP prevents and prohibits creativity and dynamic engineering. While the disconnected Chinese physics professor in the classroom solves a problem and waxes over how beautiful the equation, logic and solution are, the real life Chinese continue be ignorant of how to hands on create solutions to their centuries old real life problems.

When will this change? Not foreseeably because the beauty of logic in the classroom remains the pursuit in China rather than the need for practicalities directly connected to the realities on the ground. We thus see the consequences of a country governed by engineers and we see it in a myriad of ways, this being but one on them.

It's not just in China that they are damming the rivers like crazy, with total disregard for ecological and social aspects. They are also damming rivers in neighboring Southeast Asian countries, especially in Burma and in Africa, in Sudan for example. It seems that annual GDP growth of 10% is all they care about. China can buy the rest of the world (including Chateau Lafite) with their mighty Yuan but they should have more respect for Mother Nature.

Cause of the problem here: You have a country with over a billion people, and resources are scarce. This idea does not bring any solution to the problem. When you believe "resources enough" you can then ask for a solution on the matter.

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