I disagree with your premise. Somebody did something once doesn't make it ok to do now. Running the environment once, even if we did know (and we didn't) doesn't make it ok to do now, just as having children work in coal mines or industrial factories was commonplace in industrial England (idk why you're citing pre-industrial England when children worked fields?) doesn't make it ok now.
> I only think that the West cannot claim a high moral ground against China, or any other developing country when it has itself been guilty of the very same practices in the not too distant past. That is by definition, hypocrisy.
Sure, but the "West" can very much say: "hey we did that and we learned our lesson on why that is bad and you shouldn't do it". Britain/US/etc... ruined their environments, whether out of stupidity or ignorance. That doesn't excuse China (or anybody else) to do the same thing.
>Yes, so what do you propose? That China not build power plants to provide a higher standard of living to the masses of Chinese people who desire to benefit from it? Let's remember that currently China is a signatory to the Paris Climate Accord and its Trump who is threatening to withdraw. Lets please stop treating China as the enemy of the environment when its still the West that's responsible for most Greenhouse emissions.
I'm not sure what the best solution is. But what I can say is that "doing what the West did because they did it even though it's bad" isn't the right approach. Trump may be threatening to pull out of the Paris Climate Accord but how is that relevant? I can't do anything about him being elected. In 4 years we'll elect a democrat and then sign back on. I don't treat China as an enemy of the environment more than any other country. If you're polluting you should try to stop it, regardless.
>I mean, come on... people thought that sending kids to work in Coal mines was OK in pre-industrial England? Really? London at one point was a huge slum with regular outbreaks of Cholera. It wasn't like nobody knew that was bad...people just didn't care. And conditions in China, although they are bad for workers, are still better than that.
Yes, as indicated by the fact that they did. Even if people at the time didn't care, we realize that their mindset of not caring is wrong today. Just like slavery, or pillaging cities, or whatever. But it's wrong today, from our perspective. You can't take moral standards of today and apply them retroactively on the past. It doesn't work that way.
> I didn't advocate for any of that. But it is a fact that Western wealth was built on the backs of extractive industries that exploited the lower classes of their own countries at first, then exploited slaves, and currently exploits low wage workers in developing countries. And for all those reasons its very hypocritical of the West to criticize China.
By sitting here complaining that it's hypocritical you are giving free-pass to countries (China or otherwise) to pollute because the West did it once. Even if it were to be hypocritical, it doesn't matter.
> currently exploits low wage workers in developing countries
Trust me, as bad as those jobs may be, they have been a great thing for China. Maybe if they hadn't had this whole stupid Communism thing and that mass genocide of intellectuals and free-thinkers they wouldn't have been in that position. It's sad, but those factory jobs (which won't be in China forever) have increased the standard of living. So if you want to call out the West for these exploitative labor practices, then you better be pissed at the Chinese who let their fellow people work in such poor conditions. Apple just pays people (and go figure works much harder than the Chinese do to increase working conditions) to build stuff. Nobody is forcing Chinese people to go work in these factories for next to nothing.