Peak Oil at Japan's House of Councillors


There was a conference yesterday, Feb 29 about Peak Oil and how Japan will be affected. The venue was the House of Councillors, at the Japanese Parliament in Tokyo. The speaker was the author of several books and articles about Peak Oil, Ishii Yoshinori.

Ishii argues for (among other things) a "Plan B" for Japan's energy needs, with investments in train services instead of cars, a focus on local food production, less meat consumption, and energy savings at home. Ishii also thinks Japan's population should be allowed to shrink and worries that China will also be hit hard by Peak Oil, perhaps even this summer during the Olympics.

Peak Oil refers to the growing gap between oil demand and production. It is the point when the maximum rate of global petroleum production is reached, after which the rate of production enters a decline. If global consumption is not reduced before the peak, an energy crisis will certainly develop because oil will be less available. Prices will then rise dramatically, as we have seen in the past year.

Ishii Yoshinori has written extensively about energy issues for years, noting that "mother earth is limited and our resent civilization which is supported by cheap abundant oil is about to end. Unable to perceive this "Oil peak", Japan has been wasting a large amount of money, e.g. for infrastructures for motor vehicles." He strongly believes that we should abandon the present wasteful civilization.

One of his key ideas is the urgent need to move from muda (wastefulness) to mottainai (waste not) which he says is "vital for Japanese survival".

Read more about about prof. Ishii Yoshinori.

The event at Sangiin was sponsored by Ryuhei Kawada, a MP (independent) who got 683,629 votes in Tokyo last year, defeating the incumbent ruling Liberal Democratic Party candidate.

Comments

Pandabonium said…
I hope politicians are listening. We can address this issue hand in hand with climate change and solve two problems at once. The hour is late however so it is heartening to see, at last, this kind of discussion taking place.

Thanks for an excellent post on the topic.
Martin J Frid said…
I appreciate the comment. Some politicians are apparently aware of this issue. Hope the others will sit down and start to think, for a change.

With people like Ishii Yoshinori around, noone can use the old "hey, don't blame me, I had no idea" argument for not changing their lifestyle.

Popular posts from this blog

Global Article 9 Conference to Abolish War

マーティンの鵜の目鷹の目 -世界の消費者運動の旅から

Salvador Dali, Hiroshima and Okinawa