Search - environment

 
 
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Mar 22, 2020

Water efficiency an under-used weapon in fight against climate change, U.N. says

Using water more efficiently in everything from daily life to agriculture and industry would help reduce planet-warming emissions and curb climate change — a potential benefit that has yet to be widely recognized, the United Nations said on Sunday.
Japan Times
WORLD
Mar 18, 2020

From online classes to video meetings, could COVID-19 spur low-carbon habits?

As the new coronavirus swept across the Seattle area, one of the hardest-hit areas in the United States, the University of Washington earlier this month shuttered its classrooms in a bid to contain the spread of the disease.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Mar 9, 2020

Eco-friendly gift-giving in a society that's overwrapped

We're all trying to do our best to help the environment, but some efforts may take more than just buying something with the word 'eco' attached to it.
BUSINESS
Mar 3, 2020

Japan panel proposes record low catch quota for flying squid

An advisory panel proposed setting the annual catch quota for Japanese flying squid at 57,000 tons, the lowest ever, for the 2020 fishing year starting next month.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Science & Health / FOCUS
Feb 28, 2020

Singapore has a $100 billion plan to survive in a far hotter world than experts predicted

Singapore has a reputation for planning ahead. With climate change, it is planning for the worst.
Japan Times
WORLD
Feb 27, 2020

Schools challenged to teach climate change as students join Greta Thunberg's strikes

Dozens of students packed onto a boat docked in a flood-prone area of Bangladesh listen closely to a lesson highlighting the natural life of the rivers around them.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 24, 2020

Young climate leaders gather in Tokyo for inaugural Climate Crisis Youth Summit

Leaders of Japan's youth climate movement gathered in Tokyo over the weekend to attend the inaugural Climate Crisis Youth Summit.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Feb 20, 2020

Canada's indigenous lead climate charge with rail blockade over pipeline plan, put Trudeau in a bind

Canadian indigenous groups are leading the charge against fossil-fuel development in a country with the world's third-largest proven oil reserves, using rail blockades as leverage and putting Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in a bind.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Feb 19, 2020

Canada passenger trains to run again but pipeline protests block freight

Passenger operator VIA Rail Canada said on Tuesday it would soon resume partial services between Quebec City and Ottawa while the government sought to end anti-pipeline protests that are blocking rail freight in eastern Canada.
Japan Times
WORLD / ANALYSIS
Feb 17, 2020

Climate change to open up 'frontier' farmland, but experts urge caution

Kenya’s livestock herders planting chile peppers, Pakistan’s mountain farmers rearing fish and tropical fruits being grown in Sicily — farmers around the world are already shifting what they grow and breed to cope with rising temperatures and erratic weather.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jan 23, 2020

Rome's Fiumicino airport tests eco-friendly plastic-graphene tarmac

Rome's Fiumicino airport is testing a pioneering tarmac developed by an Italian company, made of a material that has twice the lifespan of traditional asphalt and is better for the environment as it uses a waste plastic.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 22, 2020

Companies join global calls for Japan to ditch coal-fired power

Japanese companies overwhelmingly feel Japan should shift away from its dependence on coal for power generation even though a third of firms say this would harm their business, a Reuters poll has found — further evidence that the government is out of step with the global fight against climate change....
JAPAN
Jan 22, 2020

Just 13% of Japan's local governments working to meet U.N. Sustainable Development Goals

Only about 13 percent of local government authorities in Japan are working to achieve the United Nations' 17 Sustainable Development Goals, in areas such as the fight against climate change, a Cabinet Office survey has shown.
WORLD / Science & Health
Jan 18, 2020

Court throws out children's climate lawsuit against U.S. government

A U.S. federal appeals court on Friday threw out a lawsuit by children and young adults who claimed they had a constitutional right to be protected from climate change, in a major setback to efforts to spur the U.S. government to address the issue.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jan 13, 2020

EU commission considers ban on plastic packaging: media report

The EU Commission is considering setting a ban on plastic packaging and new requirements for manufacturers, said Virginijus Sinkevicius, EU Commissioner-designate for environment and the oceans, in an interview with German newspaper Die Welt.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Jan 13, 2020

Koalas could be classified 'endangered' after fires decimate population

Australia's koala population has taken such an "extraordinary hit" from the wildfires sweeping the country that the marsupial could be classified as endangered in some areas, according to Environment Minister Sussan Ley.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 6, 2020

Trump reportedly to overhaul environmental review process and dismiss climate impacts

The Trump administration will unveil new regulations Wednesday that would limit the types of projects like highways and pipelines requiring environmental review and no longer require federal agencies to weigh their climate impacts, sources familiar with the plan said.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 26, 2019

Some Kyushu Electric coal ships to use LNG, cutting emissions by 20%

Kyushu Electric Power Co. will start using vessels powered by liquefied natural gas to transport coal for thermal power generation, resulting in reduced carbon emissions from shipping.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Dec 24, 2019

Ecuador concerned about recovery of sunken barge in Galapagos and fuel spill

Ecuador's environment minister, Raul Ledesma, said on Monday that a situation involving a sunken barge in the Galapagos Islands that was carrying 600 gallons of diesel is under control but added that authorities are "very concerned" about the vessel's recovery.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 16, 2019

On Nagano's Lake Suwa, climate change unravels 600 years of history held dear

Kiyoshi Miyasaka climbs the stone steps of his shrine, autumn leaves crunching under his feet. The Shinto priest, dressed in white, aims an orange leaf blower at a row of cobblestones and clears the path of fallen leaves.
JAPAN
Dec 6, 2019

Nagano is first prefecture in Japan to declare a climate emergency

Nagano became the first prefecture to declare a climate emergency Friday, joining a growing coalition of nations, regions and local municipalities around the world in vowing to take action that reflects the urgency of the crisis.
JAPAN
Oct 28, 2019

Environmental tech for Tokyo Olympics touted as reusable resource for cities outside Japan

Innovations such as roads that reflect heat and water-absorbing pavement that will help the 2020 Olympic Games be a carbon- neutral event could also be adopted by other cities looking to mitigate climate risks, urban experts said.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Oct 24, 2019

Young entrepreneurs with a mission bank on 'Greta' effect

As the brains behind a hydroponics farming system in rural Kenya, 17-year-old Jefferson Kang'acha struggled to get noticed but he now expects the youth climate movement led by Greta Thunberg to bolster other young people on a mission.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Oct 21, 2019

Japan rushes to establish LNG bunkering hub as environmental rules push global fleet to natural gas

A U.N.-led call for action to tighten sulfur oxide emissions may also be a trigger accelerating a shift to natural gas as fuel for the global shipping fleet, and Japan is wasting no time trying to establish a refueling hub in Asia.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Oct 19, 2019

Creating a barrier-free transportation environment in Japan

Not too long ago, domestic media organizations would rarely have anything negative to say about the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, but as the actual games draw nearer, there's been a greater willingness to find fault with preparations and even raise a bit of alarm. Everything from Tokyo's deadly summertime heat...
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 16, 2019

Shinjiro Koizumi's 'sexy' fight against climate change is untranslatable, Japan's government says

The government was forced to make sense of Koizumi's recent vow to make Japan's fight against climate change “sexy” after an opposition lawmaker requested an official interpretation of his remarks.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Oct 15, 2019

Greenpeace activists climb Shell North Sea platforms and hang 'clean up your mess' sign

Greenpeace activists boarded two Royal Dutch Shell oil platforms in the British North Sea on Monday in protest against plans to leave parts of the giant structures in place after production shuts down.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 8, 2019

Komodo dragons versus ecotourists

The fierce lizards are in decline on their native island and an influx of visitors hasn't helped.

Longform

A small shrine perched atop rocks braves the waves hitting the shoreline during a storm in Shimoda, Shizuoka Prefecture. The area is under threat of a possible 31-meter-high tsunami if an earthquake strikes the nearby Nankai Trough.
If the 'Big One' hits, this city could face a 31-meter-high tsunami