Tackling with the trouble – as global issue, and individual issue
Posted on December 16, 2018Natural Capitalism
“We have lived by the assumption that what was good for us would be good for the world. We have been wrong. We must change our lives, so that it will be possible to live by the contrary assumption that what is good for the world will be good for us. And that requires that we make the effort to know the world and to learn what is good for it. We must learn to cooperate in its processes, and to yield to its limits.”
Referring to the word of Wendell Berry, an American novelist, poet, environmental activist, Hunter, Amory and Paul (1999) call for escape from current industrial capitalism our society has raised and conversion to “Natural Capitalism.” Though the idea of “Natural Capitalism” originally emerged in 1994 and their book was published in 1999, the authors’ claims are not behind the times at all. That means the situation surrounding the environment of the Earth is getting worse year by year.
International (un)cooperation on climate change
One of the biggest and most complicated social tasks in the world is climate change. Regarding this issue, there is discussion on whether it exits or not and there also are differences in approaches among each group. I do not think we have unified view of the whole of us. As of me, I think that it is necessary for the continued prosperity of mankind on the earth that constant efforts to maintain the balance between economic activity and growth, which is a major cause of climate change, and environmental consideration. If the ultimate environmental protection for the planet is the disappearance of human beings and artifacts from the earth, it is only a matter of degree/ balance, no matter how much environmentalists are crying out. If so, as with many other social issues, it is important for all people who live on this planet to consider their ideals and make bottom-up directions and approaches, rather than directions or approach offered as form of top down. In that respect, the Paris Agreement adopted at COP (Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change) 21 in 2015 was an epoch-making agreement (therefore, it makes me deeply disappointed that the U.S Government decided not to ratify the agreement). Firstly, it is the agreement that all major emissions countries, including developing countries, are eligible. In the Kyoto Protocol, adopted in COP3 in 1997, the legal obligation to reduce emissions was only imposed on developed countries. However, between 1997 and the present day when the Kyoto Protocol was adopted, developing countries have achieved rapid economic development, and the emissions have also increased sharply with that. In fact, in terms of the share of greenhouse gas emissions in 2016 by country, China was No.1 with 23.2%, India was No.4 with 5.1%, while US was No.2 with 13.6% and Japan was No.8 with 2.7% (I don’t think China and India are ‘developing countries’ nowadays, though). The fact that the reduction obligation is not imposed on developing countries has become a factor that makes unreasonable feelings among participating countries. Therefore, in the Paris Agreement, it was urged for all the participating countries and regions including developing countries to set “greenhouse gas reduction / control target” after 2020. In addition, it is stipulated that ratified countries should strive to create long-term “low emission development strategy” and submit it.
Another reason why the Paris Agreement is a groundbreaking framework is that it adopted a bottom-up approach. The Kyoto Protocol adopted an approach in which emission reduction targets prescribed top-down only for developed countries are imposed. Questioning this top-down approach from the perspective of fairness and effectiveness, the Paris Agreement sought and adopted approaches to urge countries to take voluntary initiatives. This approach has been advocated by Japan in the international negotiations leading up to agreement negotiations.
Following this framework of the Paris Agreement, the reduction / control targets of each country are allowed to be formulated voluntarily by incorporating the national circumstances of each country.
In Japan, the first point for achieving the goal is to promote low-emission energy mix by increasing the amount of renewable energy to be introduced, and to pursue further energy efficiency. In the energy mix of 2030 shown by the government, the power supply composition will be 22 to 24% of renewable energy and 22 to 20% of nuclear power, while proceeding thorough energy conservation. Private companies are expected to not only further reduce their emissions, but also develop high-performance materials, low-carbon, energy-saving products, and promote them to domestic and overseas, taking these targets as business opportunities. Meanwhile, even at your home, you will be asked to review how to use energy and consumption behavior in your life.
What we should not forget is a posture that aims to balance the economy with the environment. Without economic development, no innovative innovation useful for countermeasures against global warming is born, and it will also be difficult to encourage the replacement of innovative energy-saving products. In order to realize a low-emissions society, it is important to promote efforts to reduce emissions in combination with efforts toward economic and social development.
New initiative
Since Hunter, Amory and Paul claimed that “natural capitalism is about choices we can make that can start to tip economic and social outcomes in positive directions. And it is already occurring—because it is necessary, possible, and practical” in 1999, there are a bunch of activities on these themes. And as a new movement at the global level, the United Nations proposed a new initiative “Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)” which shows 17 goals and concrete guidelines for sustainable development. In this new initiative, organizations and individuals are encouraged to conduct business and activities according to these guidelines. Similar global initiatives have been created so far, but many companies, especially Japanese companies, have made their efforts only as CSR and were not involving them as the basic discipline of their management. However, feeling the rapid change of society, these private companies are declaring that they will embed SDGs in their management policies in response to the growing concern of the world. I assume that SDGs is well designed to show the crossing points of incentives for sustainability and economic growth and expect it to be a successful example of policy design.
Tips for you – take actions from today
Just for your information, I would like to introduce the guidelines, the Ministry of Environment of Japan has compiled in the past, showing some actions against global warming that can be done at home. I hope you will try these at home from today!
“Ten tips for household to prevent global warming”:
- Set air-conditioner thermostats one degree higher in summer, and one degree lower in winter.
- Reduce driving distances by 8 kilometers twice a week.
- Reduce engine idling by five minutes a day.
- Reduce standby power consumption for home electric appliances by 90 percent.
- Reduce showering time by one minute a day by each family member.
- Do not drain the water after a bath but reuse it for washing clothes.
- Turn off rice cookers after rice is cooked and do not use the warming feature.
- Eliminate 20 percent of heating and lighting by having family members share the same room more many.
- Carry your own shopping bag and avoid buying over-packaged vegetables.
- Reduce TV viewing time by one hour a day by more intentionally selecting which programs to watch.
If all of these tips are fully implemented at home, annual CO2 emissions will be reduced by 13 percent, giving each household a saving of 41,000 yen (about US $ 370). The Ministry of the Environment figures that the 1.8 percent reduction target is reachable if 30 percent of households in Japan follow all of these tips.
– DH
Reference
Hawken, Paul, Amory B. Lovins, and L. Hunter Lovins. 1999. Natural capitalism: creating the next industrial revolution. Boston: Little, Brown and Co.
Wakefield, Stephanie. 2017. Inhabiting the Anthropocene back loop. Resilience, 6:2, 77-94, DOI: 10.1080/21693293.2017.1411445.
Simon, Matt. “WE NEED MSSIVE CHANGE TO AVOID CLIMATE HELL,” WIRED US. 26 October 2018.