The USSR's ecological record is pretty dire, Chernobyl, the disappearance of the Aral sea to a pesticide saturated salty basin, up to the fall of the Soviet Union its CO2 emissions (on a historical basis) were second only to the USA, radioactive contamination of the Ob rever and Arctic, including the Kyshtym disaster and the disposal of nuclear reactors and submarines in the Arctic Ocean, soil depletion from inappropriate agricultural practices, etc. Am I claiming the USSR was any worse than any other country, I don't know, but the claim that ecological damage is peculiar to capitalist systems bears no serious examination. Is it true there were movements and ideologies in communism that took account of such externalities, of course, but as in any other large industrial machine, they always took second place.

As regards China, is it true that this country is investing heavily in renewable energy and trying to clean up some of its worst pollution, but CO2 emissions in China have risen inexorably, and are now more than twice those of the USA, indeed, more than that of the USA, India, Russia, Japan and Iran combine, and almost twenty times the CO2 emissions of Germany. It's a country of environmental and industrial cognitive dissonance, claiming some environmental discernment, but desperately clinging onto a polluting energy source, Much as my diabetic patient goes for a run every day but still eats cream buns.