Tag - pollution

 
 

POLLUTION

Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jan 26, 2015
Japanese rice: The new, safe luxury food in China
First it was European infant formula, then New Zealand milk. Now Chinese consumers are adding Japanese rice to the list of everyday foods they will bring in from abroad at luxury prices because they fear the local alternatives aren't safe.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jan 17, 2015
2014 was hottest year ever recorded, U.S. scientists say
Last year was Earth's hottest on record, two U.S. government agencies said Friday — new evidence that people are disrupting the climate by burning fossil fuels that release greenhouse gases.
WORLD / Science & Health
Jan 14, 2015
Obama will target methane emissions in next climate task: sources
The Obama administration plans to require the oil and gas industry to cut methane emissions from the drilling and transportation of fossil fuels by as much as 45 percent over the next decade, another step in its efforts to curb greenhouse gases tied to climate change.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Dec 27, 2014
Plastic debris damages marine environment
There are plastic shopping bags, bottles, toys, action figures, bottle caps, pacifiers, tooth brushes, boots, buckets, deodorant roller balls, umbrella handles, fishing gear, toilet seats and so much more. Plastic pollution is pervasive in Earth's oceans.
WORLD / Science & Health
Dec 9, 2014
Abandoned U.S. oil wells still belching methane, study finds
Some of the millions of abandoned oil and natural gas wells in the United States are still spewing methane, and are a potentially large source of unrecorded greenhouse gas emissions, according to a new study.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Dec 9, 2014
EU presses for accountability, opening rift at U.N. climate talks in Lima
European Union insistence on a right to challenge nations about their plans for fighting climate change, in the run-up to a United Nations summit in 2015, has opened a rift at U.N. climate talks in Lima.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT
Dec 7, 2014
To fight pollution, Paris mayor wants to ban diesel cars from city center by 2020
Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo called for diesel cars to be banned from the French capital by 2020 and said pedestrian-only neighborhoods should be created in the city center as part of a plan to fight pollution.
Japan Times
JAPAN / History / JAPAN TIMES GONE BY
Dec 6, 2014
Opening WWI naval operations ended; U.S. architect plans Manchuria housing; Tokyo smog more poisonous; Ebola monkeys spur warning
The Navy Department yesterday published a survey of the operations of the different squadrons and divisions of the Imperial Navy since the outbreak of the world war, and announced that the first part of the operations has come to an end.
WORLD / Science & Health
Nov 27, 2014
U.S. EPA seeks tighter ozone standards to cut pollution
The Obama administration on Wednesday proposed stricter curbs on ground-level ozone, a pollutant linked to several serious health conditions. Industry groups said the move would place a heavy burden on the U.S. economy.
Japan Times
WORLD
Nov 26, 2014
EU puts annual cost to society of air pollution at $235 billion
Air pollution, chiefly from coal-fired power plants, cost society up to €189 billion ($235 billion) in 2012 — equal to the gross domestic product of Finland — the European Environment Agency (EEA) said in a report published on Tuesday.
Japan Times
WORLD
Nov 15, 2014
Obama pledges $3 billion for global climate fund
President Barack Obama on Friday pledged a $3 billion U.S. contribution to an international fund to help poor countries cope with the effects of climate change, putting the issue front and center of the Group of 20 summit in Australia.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Nov 13, 2014
Republicans vow to fight EPA in Congress over China emissions breakthrough
Republican congressional leaders on Wednesday wasted no time in criticizing what they called President Barack Obama's "one-sided" climate deal with China, using the announcement to declare war on the administration's plan to use executive actions to combat carbon emissions.
WORLD / Science & Health
Nov 2, 2014
Denmark considers phasing out coal by 2025 in big green shift
Denmark should ban coal use by 2025 to make the Nordic nation a leader in fighting global warming, adding to green measures ranging from wind energy to bicycle power, Denmark's climate minister said on Saturday.
COMMUNITY / Voices / COMMUNITY CHEST
Oct 20, 2014
Readers tackle the 'Japan clean, yet beach covered in crap' enigma
Some emails received in response to Roberto De Vido's recent Foreign Agenda column about a trash-strewn beach in Kanagawa.
WORLD
Sep 22, 2014
IAEA set to announce 32-year low in nuclear power production
The cost of keeping uranium out of the hands of terrorists and safe from natural disasters is sidelining nuclear energy, which officials once dreamed would power a utopian future of cheap, almost limitless electricity.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA
Sep 10, 2014
If the Japanese are so clean, why is there so much crap on my beach?
Do Japanese take their rubbish with them only when people are watching? The view from one small beach on the Miura Peninsula suggests that is the case.
ASIA PACIFIC / Science & Health
Sep 10, 2014
Huge project to divert rivers to Beijing, at the expense of regions
China is about to realize a dream of communist leader Mao Zedong to redirect river flows to benefit Beijing and the dry north, but critics say the resource grab by the politically powerful capital will harm other regions.
ENVIRONMENT
Sep 2, 2014
TV forecasters imagine climate change in 2050
Imaginary television weather forecasts predicted floods, storms and searing heat from Arizona to Zambia within four decades, as part of a United Nations campaign on Monday to draw attention to a U.N. summit this month on fighting global warming.
ENVIRONMENT
Aug 6, 2014
'Dead zone' in the Gulf of Mexico is the size of Connecticut: scientists
Scientists say a man-made "dead zone" in the Gulf of Mexico is as big as the state of Connecticut.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 25, 2014
China sees growth in a cleaner environment
Surprisingly China — currently the world's largest emitter of carbon dioxide — is emerging as a global leader in climate policy as it seeks to build a cleaner and more efficient economy.

Longform

The byzantine process for converting a foreign driver’s license into a Japanese one entails mountains of paperwork and significant stamina — unless you're a lucky license holder from a country or region where these requirements are waived.
Driving in Japan isn’t hard. Getting the license is.