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Jake Spring
For Jake Spring's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
People in New York watch drones creating a 3D display outside the United Nations Headquarters calling attention to the Amazon rainforest and climate change.
ENVIRONMENT / Energy
Nov 29, 2023
Amazon rainforest destruction slows sharply year to date, report says
Destruction across the Amazon rainforest so far this year has slowed dramatically, down 55.8% from the same period a year ago.
An agent inspects a tree extracted from the Amazon rainforest during an operation to combat deforestation in Para State, Brazil, on Jan. 20.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Nov 14, 2023
Forests key to climate fight along with cutting fossil fuels: study
Restoring global forests could sequester 22 times as much carbon as the world emits in a year, meaning trees are a key tool in fighting climate change.
People wearing sun protection gear amid a heat wave walk on a street in Beijing in July.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Nov 3, 2023
Climate's 'Catch-22': Cutting pollution heats up the planet
The removal of air pollution may have had a greater effect on temperatures in some Chinese cities than the warming from greenhouse gases.
An iceberg floats near Two Hummock Island, Antarctica, in 2020.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Sep 26, 2023
Antarctic winter sea ice at record low, sparking climate worries
Researchers warn the shift can have dire consequences for animals like penguins who breed and rear their young on the sea ice.
The summit of the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization, in Belem, Brazil, on Tuesday.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability / ANALYSIS
Aug 11, 2023
Despite 'weak' accord, Amazon summit calls for rich to pay up
The final joint statement demanded that developed countries make good on a promise to deliver $100 billion annually in climate financing.
A camp of informal gold miners in Los Amigos, in the Madre de Dios region, Peru. The Peruvian government estimates that illegal miners dump about 180 metric tons of mercury in Madre de Dios annually.
WORLD
Aug 7, 2023
Gold mining in the Amazon poisoning scores of threatened species
Miners in southeast Peru use mercury to find gold — inadvertently contaminating hundreds of species native to the area.
Japan Times
WORLD
Feb 8, 2023
Lula's Amazon pledge looks distant as Brazil battles deforestation
The push to stop surging Amazon rainforest destruction is facing challenges after years of dwindling funding and staff at Brazil's environmental enforcement agency.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jan 7, 2022
Brazil stops tracking savanna deforestation despite rising destruction
The Cerrado, which neighbors the Amazon rainforest and stretches across several Brazilian states, is a major bulwark against climate change due to the carbon it absorbs.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / ANALYSIS
Nov 15, 2021
COP26 message to business: Clean up to cash in
The deal announced late Saturday pushes countries to reassess business strategies and carbon footprints to reap monetary rewards, or lag and risk losses.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Aug 11, 2021
'Hours on a footnote’: Scientists felt joy and frustration in making climate report
Specialists, all 234 of them working for free, reviewed more than 14,000 scientific studies published since 2013 to draft the latest version.
Japan Times
WORLD
Aug 10, 2021
Geoengineering marks scientific gains in U.N. report on dire climate future
The technology involves large-scale interventions that shift the climate, generally with an aim of cooling the Earth.
Japan Times
WORLD
Aug 10, 2021
Once-in-50-year heat waves now happening every decade
Heat waves, droughts and torrential rains are set to become more frequent and extreme as the earth warms further, a U.N. climate science report says.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Jul 8, 2021
Fines that protect the Amazon systematically obstructed under Jair Bolsonaro
Public records show Brazil's president himself exploited an appeal system, running out a five-year statute of limitation on a fine for illegal fishing.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Jan 14, 2021
Wielding machetes and calipers, sweat-soaked scientists count carbon in Amazon
Brazilian researchers are seeking to learn how much carbon can be stored in different parts of the world's largest rainforest.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Sep 15, 2020
Burned jaguars and fire tornadoes: Blazes in Brazil wetland deliver climate warning
This massive fire is one of thousands of blazes sweeping the Brazilian Pantanal — the world's largest wetland.

Longform

Historically, kabuki was considered the entertainment of the merchant and peasant classes, a far cry from how it is regarded today.
For Japan's oldest kabuki theater, the show must go on