Category: Environment

Running Low On Time

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The Clock is Ticking

The World’s Climate Scientists Issue Yet Another Warning

On Monday, the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) released it’s most recent report on global warming. The IPCC was formed by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) to better assess climate change. And assess they did, as thousands of scientists from all over the world spent years analyzing the data and investigating the evidence (The BBC  does a pretty good job of explaining the process).

The take-away is abundantly clear. Due to human activity and the over-use of fossil fuels, the world is in fact warming at an increasingly rapid rate. It’s actually changing faster than was initially anticipated, and we need to respond to the science while we still have time to do something about it.

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The Year of the Typhoon

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Typhoon-Trami

Typhoon Trami

2018 has been a brutal year for typhoons in Japan. Last night Tokyo felt the effects of Typhoon Trami, the 24th typhoon to impact Japan this year. Early reports indicate that although the city took a serious beating, the death toll is miraculously low. Advanced warning, brilliant infrastructure, and strong procedures help keep residents safe even in these times of increasing climate disasters, but the environment certainly appears to be upping its intensity. There have been more storms, with more rainfall than in recent memory, and more storms are predicted. Indeed, Typhoon Kong-Rey (#25!) is scheduled to hit Japan before the end of the week.

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Japan Can Become An Ocean Champion

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Japan and the Sea

Stewards of the Sea

As a technologically advanced island nation with very strong ties to the ocean, it is the opinion of this author that Japan take a greater lead in becoming a champion of the seas. It’s no secret that the oceans have become a waste-bin for the world (see Ocean Health Index), with increasing amounts of plastic debris, industrial waste, and all manner of human refuse polluting the waters.

Human activity has not been kind. Off-shore drilling, over-fishing, chemical dumping, and climate change are all taking their toll. This post however is intended not to highlight all the wrongs that we have been doing, but encourage greater action on the part of those who share such vital connections with the sea. All life on the planet is dependent on the oceans, so it is certainly within everyone’s interest to do more to protect it. In Japan’s case, there exist substantial ties of national identity and culture, as well as the all the socio-economic benefits. Furthermore, Japan has the capacity to do something about the ocean’s current imbalance. This represents an excellent opportunity for Japan to do more for the welfare of the oceans and set an example for the world.

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What is Sustainability?

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The Apple

What’s In A Name?

Often times when bringing up sustainability, I find myself having to explain the term. It certainly gets tossed around more often in Canada and the US, but here in Japan for instance, it’s contemporary understanding is still taking shape. That’s not to say Japan doesn’t “do” sustainability. Indeed, environmental protection and the application of good management principals (a Japanese forte), are long standing concepts in this country. In fact, there are plenty of great Japanese examples that the world at large can certainly benefit from (will be posting more about this in the future).

However, despite this historical connection, as a modern approach to the population’s choice of lifestyle, consumption, business and politics, it’s still very much a work in progress in Japan, as it is undoubtedly in many other parts of the world. As a result, attempting to address the meaning of sustainability offers an excellent opportunity for concerned citizens to participate in the discussion and hopefully motivate for change.

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Top 5 Climate Change Apps

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Environmental Tech

Tech Tools For Learning about the Planet

For those of you looking for a few interesting apps that could help you discover more about our planet, I’ve put together a list of my top 5. Although I started out excited to share some goodies, for some reason this turned out to be surprisingly challenging, as many of the apps I had looked into were faulty or outdated. A quick Google search will lead you to other lists that are already over 5 years old and not quite relevant. This disappointment kind of amazed me, as I’ve been noticing and sharing real progress in the movement to address climate change and the growing social consciousness. There is however a serious gap on the application side of things. On the bright side, this might be an opportunity for one of my readers to address;)

Without further delay, here are some of the apps I have personally tried out and liked.

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