Japan Post wants you to reduce CO2

Japan Post is extremely busy today, as 120 million Japanese people send New Years greeting cards to each other. These post cards are usually promptly delivered and from this year, they offer you the option of using a post card that helps offset climate change. According to Nihon Keisai Shimbun, Japan Post is using CDM (Clean Development Mechanism) to offset its emissions, noting that if you buy the slightly more expensive JP postcards that include this option, the total influence is not small. You pay an extra 5 yen, in addition to the normal cost of 50 yen, to send a serious message to family, friends and coworkers.

Japan Post: Carbon Offset Nengajou (in Japanese)

Kyoto Mechanisms Information Platform for Japan (in English)

Gott nytt år (Happy New Year)! Satoko & Peo Ekberg, who participated in a November 23 event at the United Nations University in Tokyo, bring a fresh perspective from Sweden to Japanese kids. You can see their talk on streaming video on the Japan Post website here. Peo makes the excellent point that we adults often tell kids what to do, but as for ourselves, we don't follow what we preach. Time for a change in 2008?

This is a cool joint project between Japan Post, Ministry of the Environment, MITI and Team-6 (Japan's campaign to reduce its emissions of climate change gasses by 6%).

NHK published a book in October 2007, about making your own handmade New Years cards. Many people are using their pc to add photos and make original cards with fun designs. Handmade (手作り) is an old tradition too of course, as people used to write their greetings with ink and brush. A very sustainable way of communicating.