Tag - environment

 
 

ENVIRONMENT

People walk past ginkgo trees in Tokyo's Meiji Jingu Gaien area in November 2022.
JAPAN / Explainer
Nov 6, 2023
What to know about the Meiji Jingu Gaien redevelopment plan
The project is controversial due to the potential felling of thousands of trees, loss of green space and threat to historic gingko trees.
Steam rises from the cooling towers of the coal power plant of RWE, one of Europe's biggest electricity and gas companies, in Niederaussem, Germany.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 6, 2023
Just 4% of top firms meet U.N. climate target guidelines, study says
The pace of change among governments and corporations is set to form a central part of the COP28 climate talks starting later this month.
Cracks run through the partially dried-up river bed of the Gan River during a regional drought in Nanchang, Jiangxi province, China, in August last year.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Nov 3, 2023
Global warming will reach 1.5 C threshold this decade, report says
The new paper adds to evidence suggesting that the goal of limiting warming to 1.5 C is already out of reach.
EF Polymer CEO Narayan Lal Gurjar (right) and COO Kunihiro Shimoji at the company in Onna, Okinawa Prefecture, in August
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Okinawa
Oct 30, 2023
Organic polymer brings water to drought-hit farmlands
The India-born, Okinawa-nurtured product seeks to replace petroleum-derived polymers to promote sustainability.
Climate activists demand that the World Bank stop fossil fuel financing on the first day of the annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank in Marrakech, Morocco, on Oct. 9.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 27, 2023
Telling countries not to be poor is bad climate advice
As developing nations bear the brunt of the costs of climate change; the world's richer states need to pay up.
An iceberg in the Weddell Sea, near the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula. Researchers say they have detected buried under the continent's ice sheet a vast ancient landscape.
WORLD / Science & Health
Oct 26, 2023
Ancient landscape formed by rivers seen deep under Antarctic ice
Researchers say they have detected buried under the continent's ice sheet a vast ancient landscape, replete with valleys and ridges.
Vietnamese environment activist Hoang Thi Minh Hong holds a banner during a protest in Ho Chi Minh in 2017.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Oct 25, 2023
Vietnam's detentions of climate activists slow clean energy shift
The country's communist government tolerates no opposition to its one-party rule and regularly jails critics.
Turbines at Orsted's offshore wind farm near Nysted, Denmark, in September
BUSINESS / Economy
Oct 25, 2023
Japan and Denmark to tie up on floating offshore wind technology
The nascent floating offshore wind industry is poised for explosive growth in the coming decade as countries strive to cut carbon emissions.
Construction works at the site of the proposed Amazon regional headquarters development beyond the Liesbeek River in Cape Town, South Africa
WORLD / Society
Oct 23, 2023
How one river highlights South Africa's land inequality
The river has become emblematic of the myriad of sometimes conflicting land disputes in a country struggling to right the wrongs of the past.
There are a lot of reasons for why the Pacific saury is becoming scarcer, including overfishing in international waters and changing ocean conditions.
LIFE / Food & Drink / Longform
Oct 23, 2023
A saury state: How the price of 'autumn's fish' skyrocketed
A fish so cheap and abundant that even the cats would ignore it, the Pacific saury is becoming a sought-after dish as stocks dwindle.
The land ministry plans to resume a subsidy program to help families with small children and young married couples build energy-efficient houses.
JAPAN
Oct 21, 2023
Japan looks to resume aid to help build energy-saving houses
The land ministry aims to incorporate the program in the government's upcoming economic package.
In residential areas, bears are said to be attracted to compost waste, persimmons and chestnuts.
JAPAN / Society
Oct 20, 2023
Bear attacks on the rise in Akita and Iwate due to lack of food
According to Akita Prefecture, a record 39 people were attacked from April through Oct. 11.
Plastic waste in Yangon's Shwepyithar township. In a working-class neighborhood of Myanmar's Yangon, plastic waste is piled a meter high, the toxic product of what a recent investigation says is rampant dumping of Western trash.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Oct 20, 2023
'License to hide': Western plastic waste dumped in Myanmar
For years, sites across Shwepyithar township have been filling up with trash that chokes fields, blocks the drainage of rains and causes fire risks.
Xi Jinping speaks during the opening ceremony of the Belt and Road Forum in Beijing on Wednesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Oct 19, 2023
Xi says green projects will anchor China’s overseas spending
Beijing is in a unique position to help mitigate climate change as the world’s largest producer of everything from solar panels to batteries.
While there should be a balance between entrepreneurial innovation and environmental responsibility, pollution should be the primary concern, not economic growth.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 19, 2023
Embracing the green growth mindset
Some high-carbon economic activities need to shrink while low-carbon, high-efficiency sectors need to grow.
Commuters ride on rickshaws on a flooded road after heavy rains in Dhaka in September.
ENVIRONMENT / ANALYSIS
Oct 19, 2023
Can pre-disaster cash and aid help fix climate loss and damage?
Anticipatory action can help avert the worst effects of climate-related disasters.
Tourists take pictures of an Enoshima Electric Railway train in Kamakura, Kanagawa Prefecture, in July.
JAPAN
Oct 18, 2023
Japan tries 'nudge theory' in bid to curtail littering by tourists
Thea measures come as littering and other problems related to overtourism are worsening in popular destinations.
An attendee tries out the XR Catch game at the Sony Group booth at CEATEC in Chiba on Tuesday.
BUSINESS / Tech
Oct 17, 2023
Major Japan tech show opens with focus on sustainability
The major trade show kicked off on Tuesday, with firms keen to showcase how their latest technologies could contribute to creating a sustainable society.
Hiruzen Kougei employee Moeko Hirao, craft brewer “Sugichan” and furry friend Tsubu help out with the tomato harvest at 6:37 a.m.
LIFE / Travel / Longform
Oct 16, 2023
The farmer's intern: A month in the Japanese countryside
Escaping the chaos of Tokyo for a month, our writer heads to rural Okayama Prefecture and discovers the delights of natural farming.
A man pours water atop his head outside the Emergency Aid Coalition during a heat wave in Houston in August.
WORLD / Science & Health
Oct 14, 2023
2023 virtually certain to be warmest year on record, U.S. says
"There is a greater than 99% probability that 2023 will rank as the warmest year on record," the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said.

Longform

Sociologist Gracia Liu-Farrer argues that even though immigration doesn't figure into Japan's autobiography, it is more of a self-perception than a reality.
In search of the ‘Japanese dream’