Global warming concerns in Japan
Al Gore's documentary about global warming will premiere on January 20 here in Japan, so I expect more debate about this topic during 2007. Also, in 2008, Japan will host the G8 meeting, and it has been decided that CO2 emissions will be discussed. My concern is that governments and the nuclear industry are using this debate to justify the construction of more and bigger nuclear reactors, certainly not a "sustainable" alternative.
Mainichi: Japanese cite global warming as top environmental problem
More people in Japan think global warming is the most serious environmental problem, a survey by the National Institute for Environmental Studies has shown. Twenty-seven percent of respondents in the survey, conducted in 2006, said that global warming was the most serious problem:
In the previous two surveys, "waste" was the top answer, selected by one in four people.
The national research institute has conducted surveys on environmental problems about once every four or five years since 1997, when the Kyoto Protocol to reduce global warming was formed. Previous surveys were conducted in 1997 and 2002.
In 1997, global warming was listed as the most serious problem by only 4 percent of respondents, but the figure rose to 10 percent in 2002. In the latest survey, it shot up to 27 percent, one point higher than for the problem of waste. The next most common answers were "destruction of nature" (7 percent), and water contamination (6 percent).
More about An Inconvenient Truth including a trailer.
Trailer with Japanese subtitles here.
Comments
I highly recommend the book "Powerdown: Options and Actions for a Post-Carbon World" by Richard Heinberg.
Humankind is in deep doo-doo and those that run the show have a vested interest in keeping any serious discussion about it off the table.
Frightening.
Yes, the serious discussion can be frightening, but it seems more people are becoming aware of stuff.