Global Environmental Issues: Responses from Japan

2004 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-50 ◽  
Author(s):  
LYDIA N. YU-JOSE
Keyword(s):  
Global Warming ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Environmental Issues ◽  
Leadership Role ◽  
Hazardous Wastes ◽  
Environmental Concerns ◽  
Basel Convention ◽  
Global Environmental ◽  
Policy Statements ◽  
Global Environmental Issues

The timing of the Japanese Government's acceptance of the United Nations multilateral treaties governing several environmental concerns indicates Japan's priorities: biodiversity, global warming, and depletion of the ozone layer. Banning transboundary movement of hazardous wastes is the least prioritized, as indicated by Japan's failure to accept the Ban Amendment to the Basel Convention. The Japanese Environment Agency's policy statements and budget allocations between 1985 and 2000, as well as other official statements and programs, likewise indicate the same priorities. Moreover, of the three priorities, global warming is the top.Japan, which has been looking for a niche in world leadership, has found it in global warming concerns. However, it would be hard for it to maintain a leadership role in global environmental concerns if it would not be able to play a proactive role in the more technologically, economically and politically difficult task of banning transboundary movement of hazardous wastes.

Prospective teachers and secondary students’ ideas on global environmental issues: Contradictions or similarities

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 13
Author(s):  
Filiz Kabapınar ◽  
Candan Cengiz ◽  
Oya Aglarci
Keyword(s):  
Global Warming ◽  
Environmental Education ◽  
Secondary Students ◽  
Prospective Teachers ◽  
Greenhouse Effect ◽  
Environmental Issues ◽  
Ozone Layer ◽  
Ozone Layer Depletion ◽  
Global Environmental ◽  
Global Environmental Issues

The present study aims to investigate prospective teachers’ (PTs’) and secondary students’ (SSs’) ideas related to environmental issues. A case study design was adopted in this study. SSs (n = 100) who received instruction on environmental issues and PTs (n = 150) who attended courses concerning environmental education were participated in this study. An open-ended questionnaire was designed and used as a data collection tool. Written answers of the participants were analysed in ideographic terms. The results of the study showed that the PTs held a range of alternative ideas similar to SSs. They both linked environmental problems which were irrelevant with cause–effect chain. Yet, PTs provided a more scientific definitions regarding greenhouse effect, global warming and ozone layer depletion as compared to SSs.   Keywords: Global environmental issues, prospective teachers, secondary students, environmental education, greenhouse effect, global warming, ozone layer depletion.    

Embodying the Environment in Everyday Life Practices

2003 ◽  
Vol 51 (1) ◽  
pp. 63-84 ◽  
Author(s):  
Phil Macnaghten
Keyword(s):  
Everyday Life ◽  
Environmental Issues ◽  
Social Practices ◽  
Global Environment ◽  
Environmental Concerns ◽  
Imagined Community ◽  
Everyday Practices ◽  
Global Environmental ◽  
Global Nature ◽  
Global Environmental Issues

This paper suggests ways in which ‘the environment’ needs to be reconfigured so that it better resonates with how people are experiencing politics, nature and everyday life. Through empirical research on environmental concerns and everyday practices, this paper sketches a framework through which the values associated with contemporary environmentalism might be developed in a more reflexive relationship to wider transformations in society. In particular, the research critically evaluates the standard storyline of a ‘global nature’ under threat and in need of collective action by a global imagined community. In contrast to rhetorics of the global environment, this paper explores ways in which the environment is being embodied, valued and experienced in an array of social practices. The paper further outlines the significance of such embodied practices as significant yet undervalued points of connection for wider, global environmental issues.

Japan and the Environment

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kim Reimann
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Aid ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Environmental Politics ◽  
Environmental Issues ◽  
Government Policies ◽  
Global Environmental ◽  
Main Factors ◽  
International Status ◽  
Global Environmental Issues ◽  
Over Time

This chapter examines the evolution of environmental politics in Japan over the postwar period and identifies the main factors and actors shaping environmental policy. The literature on Japanese environmental politics has shifted its focus over time from domestic to global environmental issues, mirroring transformations in Japan’s political economy and international status. After successfully confronting the domestic problem of severe pollution in the 1970s and early 1980s, Japan became one of the world’s largest donors of environmental foreign aid, starting in the early 1990s and continuing today. Throughout all periods, there have been continuities as well as changes. In terms of representation and democracy, the Japanese state has consistently prioritized concerns of business and local governments in the policymaking process. In addition to having greater voice, these constituencies have also benefited materially from policies through their access to various green funds. In contrast, NGOs and citizens have tended to be left out of policy discussions and have exercised voice largely through protest and critiques of government policies. The chapter ends by examining the case of climate change to explore these patterns in more recent years.

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