[Spaceships] Million Merchant Marathon

[scc]

Originally Posted by Varyon

Why build dirty power plants when you can build solar satellites and groundside receiver stations for far cheaper? Why use old gas-burning vehicles when you can get top-of-the-line electric vehicles for a fraction of the price? Why pollute your environment from landfills and dumping into rivers when the West will pay you for your waste? Because that's the situation the African people (and their leaders) would find themselves in if the West invested a fraction of what they would need to spend for terraforming three worlds into preventing Africa from becoming a toxic wasteland (to be clear, the reason the solar satellites/receivers, electric vehicles, etc cost so little is because the West is footing most of the bill).

Groundside receiver stations would be the default, although issues such as size minimum (requiring national grids to make proper use of them) and restrictions on placement and construction (The 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine was ended by one such incident) may well restrict their use in Africa.

But the main source of pollution is more ground water contamination and the like, PFAS being dumped into the river, burning of fossil fuels for power is not an issue.

As for the West paying them not to do stuff like this, I'm not sure how likely that is, but I doubt that if offered it would be accepted.

Originally Posted by FrackingBiscuit

"Africans just can't help themselves destroying Africa" is a really weird take for a supposedly anti-imperialist background. Also seems to reduce all of the West to just the USA, which... first of all seems odd, second of all seems to equate "the American Dream" with "increase pollution at all costs" and not much else.

The idea that all of Africa will always choose fossil fuels and pollution even if clean energy is cheaper is hard to believe. Setting aside that an entire continent having the same economic opinion is highly unlikely, it seems to me that the only people who would choose Pollution Uber Alles are the legacy fossil fuel companies that have a vested interest in it. Nobody else benefits.

I don't think anti-imperialist really applies here, and likely neither does post-imperialist. Also see above, this doesn't really have anything to do with fosil fuels.

Originally Posted by Anthony

There is nothing especially appealing about the American lifestyle that demands mass environmental degradation. I'm also not talking about providing advice, I'm talking about providing direct economic incentives.

Providing it cheaply and quickly however almost certainly does. And Westerners telling Africans not to go that route will almost certainly provoke them to go that route.

Originally Posted by FrackingBiscuit

Not just that - it's apparently Africa itself that's destroying Africa, and doesn't care because they're stupid and short-sighted, according to this setting. The terraforming nations apparently have the means to fix the problem but don't want to for fear of being accused of imperialism.

This, the terraforming nations trying to force the issue will not end well.

For reference I'm basing this off the on-going civil war in Ethiopia. In contrast to the Russian invasion of Ukraine Europe isn't providing weapons to any side. Why? Well the no side is good (compared to Ukraine V. Russia) is one. The other is the complicated history between the continents. This same history prevents them from sending peacekeepers.