Tag - pollution

 
 

POLLUTION

Japan Times
WORLD
Nov 3, 2018
South Africans make bricks from human urine
South African researchers have made bricks using human urine in a process that could one day help reduce global warming emissions by finding a productive use for the waste product.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT
Oct 27, 2018
Air quality in Delhi area plummets as peak pollution season arrives
India's capital was covered in a blanket of choking gray air and pollution Saturday, with government data showing air quality slumping to "severe" or "very poor" levels in almost all parts of Delhi.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Oct 27, 2018
Malaysia to phase out imports of plastic waste from developing countries
Malaysia is taking steps to limit imports of plastic waste, which has flooded the country since China stopped taking in foreign scrap for recycling, housing minister Zuraida Kamaruddin said on Friday.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Oct 26, 2018
Illegal factories cash in on Malaysia's plastics recycling plan
Hundreds of sacks filled with plastic waste from the United States, Britain, South Korea and Spain spill onto the streets of an industrial zone in Pulau Indah, an island town an hour from Kuala Lumpur that is home to Malaysia's biggest port.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Oct 20, 2018
Japan to make charging for plastic shopping bags mandatory
A government advisory panel approves a set of proposals for plastic recycling, including making it mandatory for retailers to charge for plastic shopping bags.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Oct 19, 2018
Firecrackers and reluctant authorities: New Delhi's smog set to worsen during Diwali
With a toxic smog beginning to envelop New Delhi as winter approaches, residents of the Indian capital are set to make matters a lot worse by burning hundreds of thousands of firecrackers to celebrate the Hindu festival of Diwali early next month.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health
Oct 13, 2018
Japan to mandate that retailers charge fees for plastic bags, but plans for punishments unclear
The Environment Ministry decides to obligate retailers to charge fees for plastic checkout bags or provide loyalty points to shoppers who bring their own.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 9, 2018
Will Japan be a climate leader or a climate laggard?
A summer of typhoons and flooding has put the issues of severe weather, global warming and climate change mitigation domestically and internationally back on top of Japan's political agenda.
BUSINESS
Oct 4, 2018
Trump picks supporter of coal and nuclear plants for post with U.S.'s top energy regulator
U.S. President Donald Trump has picked Energy Department staffer Bernard McNamee, a proponent of his administration's plan to bail out aging coal and nuclear plants, to join the nation's top energy regulator.
BUSINESS
Sep 27, 2018
Wales zero waste shop wins award as 'Blue Planet' effect grows
A zero waste shop won an ethical business award in Wales on Wednesday night, highlighting a growing trend among retailers to cut plastic use as worry over its environmental impact rises.
Japan Times
WORLD / Society
Sep 26, 2018
In polluted city above Russian Arctic Circle, prisoners of Putin's pension reform
Russian railway worker Andrey Bugera had a singular goal: get to pension age so he can leave the polluted, frigid coal mining town above the Arctic Circle where he works and move south to live out even a brief bit of retirement in comfort.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 24, 2018
Space junk presents a clear and present danger
Pollution generated by human activity isn't limited to the Earth and its climate.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Sep 21, 2018
With population boom, urbanization, World Bank warns waste could grow 70% by 2050
Global waste could grow by 70 percent by 2050 as urbanization and populations rise, the World Bank said Thursday, with South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa set to generate the biggest increase in rubbish.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Sep 19, 2018
'In Pursuit of Silence': A documentary looks at what it'll take to finally get some peace and quiet
The 1964 tune "The Sound of Silence" by Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel is a bona fide classic, but it never really identifies just what this "sound of silence" is. That task instead falls to "In Pursuit of Silence," the documentary about this surprisingly hard-to-pin-down aural quality and why it's worth...

Longform

Professional cleaner Hirofumi Sakurai takes a moment to appreciate some photographs in a Gotanda apartment whose occupant died alone.
The last cleanup: Life and death in a lonely Japan