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August 15, 2024
 

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ENVIRONMENT

Storage tanks containing treated water on the grounds of the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant earlier this week. Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, the plant’s operator, started releasing some of the water into the sea on Thursday.
JAPAN
Aug 24, 2023
Japan begins controversial release of treated Fukushima water
The discharge is a major step in the decommissioning process for the reactors hit by meltdowns following the March 2011 tsunami.
People protest in Hong Kong on Tuesday after Japan announced that it would release treated water from the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant into the sea.
JAPAN
Aug 23, 2023
Treated water release from Fukushima sparks mixed reactions in Asia
After reaching an agreement with the IAEA on information-sharing about the operation, Seoul announced that it would not stand in the way of the plan.
Flames reach upward along the edge of a wildfire near Mistissini, Quebec, in June.
ENVIRONMENT
Aug 23, 2023
As wildfires multiply, a new era of air pollution
The average American had already been exposed to 450 micrograms of smoke per cubic meter by early July, worse than from 2006-2022.
A bulk carrier at the Panama Canal on April 19
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 22, 2023
Historic drought and hot seas slow Panama Canal shipping
Restrictions already are sending China-U.S. spot shipping prices up as much as 36% amid soaring sea temperatures.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks during a ministerial meeting in Tokyo on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Aug 22, 2023
Japan to begin releasing treated Fukushima water Thursday
Despite fishing cooperatives' lingering worries of reputational damage, the government will go ahead with its plan.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida (left) meets with Masanobu Sakamoto (right), head of the National Federation of Fisheries Cooperative Associations, and other representatives at the Prime Minister's Office in Tokyo on Monday.
JAPAN / Politics
Aug 21, 2023
Japan's release of Fukushima treated water could start Thursday
The government is set to announce Tuesday when the release of tritium-laced water from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant will begin.
Japan's major paper manufacturers are developing a new fiber to expand the use of wood amid a decline in domestic demand for paper.
BUSINESS
Aug 21, 2023
Japan paper industry to develop new wood fiber material
With demand for paper in the doldrums, the industry is looking to expand the use of wood, a renewable resource, beyond paper products.
The port in Ensenada as Tropical Storm Hilary hits Baja California state, Mexico, on Sunday.
WORLD / Society
Aug 21, 2023
Storm Hilary puts California at risk of catastrophic flooding
A state of emergency was declared for much of Southern California, with flash flood warnings throughout a region more accustomed to drought.
A handful of trees stand at the Tabqa Reserve near the village of Jaabar, in the Kurdish-held part of Syria's Raqqa province.
WORLD / Society
Aug 21, 2023
Illegal logging turns Syria's forests into 'barren land'
Fuel shortages and rampant poverty have pushed many Syrians to chop the trees to sell or use for heating, dealing a blow to the nature surrounding Jaabar.
Surging populations of plant-eating insects are disrupting farms and the food supply chain, causing problems far more serious than sticky windshields from bug excrement.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 20, 2023
The insect apocalypse is coming to your neighborhood
Polar bears and sea turtles get most of the attention as victims of climate change, but when the bugs invade we're all going to feel it personally.
The Inflation Reduction Act’s tax breaks for clean energy will help mitigate climate change but they will not meet the 2050 net-zero carbon goal.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 17, 2023
Biden’s climate bill was too tame
U.S. President Biden and the Democratic Party's Inflation Reduction Act was too tame on fixing the climate.
U.S. President Joe Biden during an event in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on Tuesday. The president has crisscrossed the nation visiting groundbreakings and factories to sell his agenda, dubbed Bidenomics, with the Inflation Reduction Act as the centerpiece.
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Aug 17, 2023
Fires and heat block Biden from taking victory lap for climate law
It’s not the first time circumstances beyond Biden’s control have undone his efforts to revel in a victory.
The ocean has absorbed a whopping 90% of the warming that’s occurred in recent decades as a result of increasing greenhouse gases. Shipping is responsible for a large portion of those emissions, pumping out more than a billion tons in 2018.
BUSINESS / Markets
Aug 16, 2023
Shipping's quest for greener fuel runs into climate complications
Three-and-a-half years ago, a new rule was established to cut ships’ sulfur emissions. Yet some scientists have linked that to warmer ocean temperatures.
Cirebon-1, an 11-year-old coal power station in West Java, Indonesia, is set to close early, sparing the planet millions of tons of carbon dioxide.
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 16, 2023
Indonesian facility shows cutting coal is a hard sell for banks
The early closure of the Cirebon-1 coal plant could be a decarbonization model for Asia, but big banks have been shy about fueling the transition.
A man scoops up millet from a sack for a photograph at a wholesale market in India.
WORLD / Science & Health
Aug 15, 2023
'Superfood' millet may be arid regions' answer to climate change
The forgotten crop is making a global comeback riding on its high nutritional value and ability to grow on arid land.
Florida's Gov. Ron DeSantis and Sen. Marco Rubio launch the 'Keep Florida Free' tour on primary night. In May, DeSantis signed a sweeping anti-ESG bill he says targets the "woke” bias of the finance industry.
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 15, 2023
Even as the term is 'weaponized,' bankers still pay heed to ESG
About two-thirds of survey respondents said the anti-ESG movement will force firms to stop using those three letters in conversations with clients.
A farmer picks coffee beans at his plantation in West Java, Indonesia, on Aug. 2.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Aug 14, 2023
World's fourth largest coffee crop threatened by El Nino
Lower coffee output in Indonesia could trigger a steeper rise in prices, which have climbed more than 40% in 2023.
A burned palm tree droops in Lahaina on Maui, Hawaii, on Friday, two days after the historic town was devastated by wildfire.
WORLD / Society
Aug 14, 2023
How climate change turned lush Hawaii into a tinderbox
The devastation on Maui happened in a state defined by its lush vegetation, a far cry from the dry landscape normally associated with fire threats.
As long as coal plants are still operating, it is a good idea to make them capture their carbon dioxide emissions. But the sooner that coal is replaced by renewables, the better it will be for the planet.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 11, 2023
Carbon capture and the changing economics of power generation
Carbon capture policies could unwittingly extend the life of dirtier energy sources.
Treated water stored in massive tanks at the Fukushima No. 1 plant
JAPAN
Aug 11, 2023
Japan to conduct quick tritium tests on Fukushima wastewater
The rapid analysis system will enable test results to come out as early as the following day.
Japan to revise consumption tax exemption for overseas tourists
Tourists walk through Nakamise shopping street near Sensoji Temple in Tokyo in April
Japan's tourism industry hit by cancellations after megaquake alert
A beach closed due to a megaquake alert in Hiratsuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, from Friday to Thursday.
Focus shifts to incoming typhoon as Tropical Storm Maria dissipates
Newly formed Tropical Storm Ampil, which is forecast to approach eastern Japan this weekend, is seen on the left side of this satellite image.
Kishida to step down in September in bid to show ‘LDP has changed’
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks during a news conference Wednesday at the Prime Minister's Office in Tokyo.
Publisher finds surprise audience after translating history textbooks
Yamakawa Shuppansha president Takeshi Nozawa holds the publisher's textbook on Japanese history — used in high schools across Japan — alongside the new English version in Tokyo on May 23.
Economic security is about strengthening and sustaining growth, former minister says
Former economic security minister Takayuki Kobayashi says changes in the international balance of power, along with deepening economic interdependence, have led some countries to attempt to use their economic power to impose their will on others.
Ice bandanas, convenience store breaks: Running under Japan’s summer sun
Blistering heat is becoming a fixture of summer in Japan, but a few tweaks to your routine can make your outdoor runs bearable — if not enjoyable — until cooler temperatures return.
Japan issued its first-ever megaquake alert. What does that mean?
Naoshi Hirata (center), chairman of a committee tasked with evaluating the risk of a Nankai Trough earthquake, speaks at a news conference in Tokyo on Friday.
France brings down the curtain on its Olympic party with Tom Cruise and Leon Marchand
Fireworks are set off during the closing ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympics at Stade de France in Saint-Denis on Sunday.
Japan fuels U.S. LNG boom even as climate targets and impacts loom
Flaring at the Cameron LNG export terminal in Hackberry, Louisiana. Flaring, a common sight at LNG plants, is a controlled burning of gas for reasons ranging from depressurizing equipment to disposing of gas that can’t be used. The practice is a "waste of money" and negatively impacts climate change and human health, says the International Energy Agency.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

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’
By Thu-Huong Ha

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Azabudai Hills, Tokyo’s green new downtown ‘village’
Azabudai Hills, Tokyo’s green new downtown ‘village’

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