Tag - pollution

 
 

POLLUTION

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.
WORLD
Nov 26, 2014
U.S. Supreme Court to weigh challenge to Obama mercury air pollution rule
The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to weigh a challenge by industry groups and some states to an Obama administration regulation intended to limit emissions of mercury and other hazardous pollutants mainly from coal-fired power plants.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 25, 2014
Illegal rubble dumping blights Ibaraki mountains
Mountains northeast of Tokyo have become blighted by tons of toxic waste and industrial rubble dumped by unscrupulous contractors, including some hired to clear debris from areas hit by the March 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 16, 2014
For China, pollution and climate change are not the same problem
Pollution is literally killing the inhabitants of China's most polluted cities.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 16, 2014
More insulation can help China clean up its act
During the 2000s, nearly half of the world's new buildings were erected in China, yet only five percent of them met China's energy efficiency standards.
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.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Oct 10, 2014
Making noise about keeping the decibels down
Yoshimichi Nakajima was waiting for the train one day at his local station in Tokyo when he politely asked the station attendant to lower the volume on his microphone. He was told that would be "difficult," so Nakajima lent a hand by grabbing the mic and throwing it onto the track. He then recounted...
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.

Longform

Traditional folk rituals like Mizudome-no-mai (dance to stop the rain) provide a sense of agency to a population that feels largely powerless in the face of the climate crisis.
As climate extremes intensify, Japan embraces ancient weather rituals