Jul 2, 2012

Commitment that failed to come

The U.N. Conference on Sustainable Development, or Rio+20, was held in Rio de Janeiro on June 20-22 as a follow up to the 1992 U.N. Conference on Environment and Development (Earth Summit), also held in the Brazilian city. Since 1992, the Convention on Biological ...

Jun 8, 2012

Building a nation of green growth

The Noda Cabinet on May 29 endorsed the 2012 white book on the environment. It calls for promotion of electricity power generation through renewable energy sources in the Tohoku region. Given the effects of the March 11 disasters and the subsequent Fukushima nuclear crisis, ...

May 21, 2012

Planning a new environment policy

The Noda Cabinet has adopted a new environment basic plan, the fourth since the first plan was adopted in 1994. It incorporates the experience of the Fukushima nuclear crisis and says that the idea of safety should serve as the basis of the endeavor ...

May 8, 2012

Ending reliance on nuclear power

The 912,000 kW No. 3 reactor at Hokkaido Electric Power Co.’s Tomari nuclear power plant came to a complete shutdown on early Sunday morning for regular inspection. No nuclear reactors are now operating in Japan — the first such situation in 42 years. Japan ...

Apr 22, 2012

Cutting CO₂ without reactors

An Environment Ministry draft report states that Japan can reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent without relying on nuclear power. This news is most welcome after the dangers of nuclear power were starkly exposed by the Fukushima nuclear fiasco. The report suggests ...

Mar 14, 2012

A wakeup call Japan ignored

by Paul Blustein

At 2:46 p.m. Sunday, March 11, my family and I joined millions of Japanese standing silently at a Buddhist temple or a Shinto shrine. With heads bowed, we remembered the events of one year earlier, when our house swayed for nearly three minutes and ...

Feb 22, 2012

Amazing GRACE can measure world's ice loss

by Michael Richardson

One of the main climate change concerns for Japan and other Asian countries with valuable and densely-populated low-lying coastal land is how much of their land may be threatened by rising sea levels and storm surges as the century advances. Humans burning fossil fuels ...

Jan 22, 2012

Protesting nuclear power

Thousands of demonstrators took to the streets of Yokohama the weekend of Jan. 14-15 to show their support for a nuclear power-free world. Organizers of the Global Conference for a Nuclear Power Free World claimed 6,000 participants from some 30 countries on the first ...

Jan 9, 2012

Adaptation to climate change will cost plenty

by Haruhiko Kuroda

Rising, warming and increasingly acidic seas threaten the very survival of Pacific island countries. The retreat of glaciers and snowfields in the Himalaya and Tibetan Plateau jeopardize these “water towers” on which 1 billion Asians depend for flows during the dry season and drought ...

Jan 4, 2012

Can China sate its thirst for energy?

by Michael Richardson

Among the sinews of superpower strength in the 21st century, maximum energy self-sufficiency will be critical as nations jostle to secure supplies of oil and natural gas, as well as food, water and minerals. This contest for power and influence will take place in ...

Dec 30, 2010

Endgames in Iraq and Afghanistan

by Richard N. Haass

NEW YORK — For nearly a decade, American foreign policy has been dominated by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. As 2011 begins, with 50,000 U.S. soldiers still in Iraq and another 100,000 in Afghanistan, it may not look like that era is coming ...