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Mick Corliss
For Mick Corliss's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
JAPAN
Mar 30, 2001
Eye in the sky to help mutual green policies
Japan and China are about embark on an innovative new program using satellite-generated information updated daily to more closely integrate environment policies in Asia, according to the Environment Ministry.
JAPAN / GREENING PAINS
Mar 21, 2001
Recycling law lets producers off hook, taxes consumers: critics
Eleven days from now, Japan will usher in a new era of recycling. For the first time, consumers will have to foot the bill to recycle and dispose of four major home appliances -- refrigerators, televisions, washing machines and air conditioners.
JAPAN
Mar 11, 2001
Hedges, rooftop gardens grow in Tokyo
While you won't find any virgin forests in Tokyo's Edogawa Ward, you will find hedges -- nearly 30 km of them. Ironically, these strips of greenery were planted to combat the problem of the ward's dearth of other vegetation. These verdant stripes, bordering roads and buildings, are part of a ward-engineered greenery revival project.
JAPAN
Mar 8, 2001
Eyes in the sky to combat illegal dumping
UTSUNOMIYA, Tochigi Pref. -- Searching for garbage from space -- it sounds like a science fiction plot of questionable quality.
JAPAN
Mar 2, 2001
Earth Summit has to keep up with times
Globalization and scientific advances are reshaping the debate over environment and development policy and will merit attention at next year's Rio Plus 10 Earth Summit, according to a senior World Bank official.
JAPAN
Feb 24, 2001
Joint effort imperative on climate change: U.N.
Countries must settle their differences at climate talks later this year to minimize the impact of global warming, according to the head of a U.N. panel of climate change experts.
JAPAN
Feb 11, 2001
Itabashi fix-it men shed light on wasteful society
In the basement of Itabashi Ward's Ecopolis Center, knives, pots, umbrellas and other knickknacks find a lease on life.
JAPAN
Jan 11, 2001
Recycling law said hazy on responsibility
Waste policy is being reborn. But pundits and government harbor opposing views on what this rebirth will herald.
JAPAN
Dec 31, 2000
Guesthouse making enemies of tenants and neighbors
Advertisements for Apple House Co., a chain of low-budget guesthouses, tout it as the "biggest guesthouse in Japan" and play up its "no curfew, no key money and no guarantor required" policy.
JAPAN
Dec 19, 2000
120 nations sign treaty targeting top toxic threats
In a recent set of marathon talks that went down to -- and past -- the wire, delegates from more than 120 countries hashed out the first international treaty designed to eliminate some of the world's most toxic chemicals.
JAPAN
Dec 16, 2000
Conference to address endocrine disrupters threat
Amid mounting concerns over chemicals believed to mimic the functions of endocrines, scientists and policy experts from around the world will open a conference in Yokohama today to present new information and discuss the threat these synthetic chemicals pose to human health and the environment.
JAPAN
Dec 9, 2000
Environment Agency rises a rank
In less than a month, the Environment Agency will -- at least in theory -- get its hands on a bigger piece of the administrative pie.
JAPAN
Dec 3, 2000
Diet, exercise are potential cure for 'health schools'
MIURA, Kanagawa Pref. -- Rika Ariyoshi has a desk waiting at her local school in Tokyo's Setagaya Ward.
JAPAN / COP6 AGENDA
Nov 15, 2000
NGO submits greenhouse gas solution
Citizens left disillusioned by the government's attempts to curb greenhouse gas emissions have come up with an alternative plan.
JAPAN / COP6 AGENDA
Nov 14, 2000
Negotiators face a tough time at climate talks
Beneath the blanket of obscure terms used to determine what countries will do to curb global warming lurk a few key concepts. How they are interpreted by negotiators at ongoing climate change talks in Holland will drastically alter climate change measures and the future world environment.
JAPAN
Nov 11, 2000
Science and politics expected to clash at COP6
Scientists agree that the Earth's atmosphere is getting warmer. There is consensus too that this warming will be the paramount environmental threat in the next century, as predictions see oceans swallowing beaches, tropical diseases spreading north and more species facing extinction.
JAPAN
Nov 11, 2000
Japan's stance could hurt talks: campaigner
In the runup to crucial climate change talks that open Monday in The Hague, nongovernmental organizations have repeatedly slammed Japan's position on a number of issues.
JAPAN
Oct 28, 2000
Global effort to fight hormone disrupters
To successfully curb the threat of endocrine disrupting chemicals, an independent and global effort is needed and is expected to be initiated early next year, according to award-winning scientist Theo Colborn.
JAPAN
Oct 20, 2000
Kawaguchi justifies CO 2 effort
Environment Agency chief Yoriko Kawaguchi has praised Japan's global warming measures and hinted at the need for more action by the United States going into international climate change negotiations next month in the Netherlands.
JAPAN
Sep 21, 2000
Whaling issue not black and white
Incensed over Japan's expanded whaling program, Washington has threatened Tokyo with trade sanctions in what the media have largely portrayed as a black and white issue.

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