Anecdotal Evidence: The situation in Shanghai is dire, food shortages with empty streets.

[NNadir]

Last night I had the opportunity to sit with my wife, sons and other relatives to celebrate the bunny holiday.

All three members of my immediate family work in academic situations, although my wife is kind of isolated from undergraduate students in an administrative role at an institute.

Both of my sons have, as a result of their lives in academia, Chinese friends, and we had a conversation about these friends last night.

In Shanghai, they've heard, from these friends - the official information is constrained by authoritarian government - that because of the Covid lockdown in that city, the streets are empty and there are reports that as a result, city dwellers cannot get food.

I've noticed some changes in carbon dioxide flows this spring, and I wondered about what I've been seeing. This offers a potential explanation, highly speculative, about what's going on. China is the world's largest emitter of CO2 - albeit hardly on a per capita basis, we are the worst in that regard - but a shut down of Chinese industry may have these environmental effects as well as supply chain effects, and obviously, on the lives of Chinese citizens.

I wish my fellow human beings the best.

[exboyfil]

1. Here in Iowa no one is wearing masks now

I really wish there was something we could do about those authoritarian jerks in China. The secrecy was a contributing factor in the spread of Covid and keeping things secret only hurts their people and us.

[Irish_Dem]

2. Xi boasts that a dictatorship can take much more rapid, efficient actions.

Not looking that way in Shanghai.

[NNadir]

3. It is rapid and efficient. What it isn't is wise, considerate, and well thought out.

[lonely bird]

4. Yup

Efficient is not the same as effective and the best thing to do. In many instances efficient is the opposite effective and the best thing to do.

[Irish_Dem]

5. Good points. Exactly. Lacks proper planning.

Beijing doesn't typically care about the human factor.
Consideration for their people is not a priority.

Their actions are having diminishing returns. Forcing people into long covid test lines resulted in people contracting covid.

[Karadeniz]

6. I'm sure we could find some food to send them!!!

[NNadir]

7. We may need to wrap our heads around the fact that 1/3 of the world wheat supply...

...comes from Ukraine and Russia.

Wheat Production by Country, 2021

In the age of Covid, food security is a very real issue.

[BobTheSubgenius]

8. And it's even worse than that.

There has already been a mild but real worldwide fertilizer shortage, and China has criminalized export of same.

The world may be in for a few bad years ahead.