Be the Change you Want to See

If we all acted in accordance with our values and beliefs wouldn't the world be better off? Probably not and here's why, we all have different values and beliefs and some of them conflict with the common dream of protecting our planet, the one place that ALL of us call our home.

In discussing the world with my uncle this weekend we started talking about how religion is tearing our planet apart, creating silos of belief and value systems. Religion has this nasty way of pushing people into corners where they can justify their beliefs and values with others. Some of these beliefs tell people that other religions are wrong. Most religions are consistent with the message, "we are right they are wrong."

Then, right when I started to feel good about the conversation and feeling like my Uncle and I were on the same page he says to me. "That's why Christ needs to come back, to save us from all this crap."

Ughh, nothing has changed with my uncle, he's still in the same silo, with all the other christ worshipers, awaiting the return or the rath, or whatever.

Religion is killing us, let's face up to that. I think it will certainly help us move forward/

And to be clear I don't equate religion and spirituality. I believe we can and should have spirituality in our lives. I know it helps me to realize the bigger picture. I find my spirituality through meditating, experiencing nature, reading good books about our planet and having deep conversations.

When will we get past all this religion non-sense? Probably never...

This is what's wrong with our world

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (Reuters) -- U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke warned on Monday that pursuit of export-led growth by Asian nations could lead to a reemergence of global trade imbalances and undercut efforts to achieve more durable growth.

Throwing his weight behind a call by the Group of 20 nations to rebalance the global economy, Bernanke said Asian nations should put in place policies that discourage excess saving and boost consumption.

At the same time, he said the United States needed to increase its saving and "substantially reduce federal deficits over time."

Kyoto Protocol

In 1992 the United Nations produced an international environmental treaty at the conference for Environment and Development in Rio de Janerio, Brazil. The treaty’s intent is to achieve the stabilization of green house gases in the atmosphere. The treaty was negotiated and adopted for use in Kyoto, Japan in 1997. Japan’s agreement in the treaty is a reduction of green house gases of 6%. The US by contrast was required to reduce by 7% and the EU has ratified the treaty at 8%.

Japan was hesitant in signing the protocol but did after concessions were made in 2001 revolving around the usage of carbon dioxide sinks which allow countries to meet the requirements by putting cO2 back into the ocean or via landfills, these techniques are often referred to as “carbon capture.”

The Kyoto Protocol has often been referred to as a “first step” towards reducing carbon emissions but in no way has been overly successful. The US for example has yet to ratify this agreement in congress and therefore has not taken any steps with legislation to reduce emission outputs. The United Nations are meeting in Copenhagen this December to develop the framework for the next global emissions bill.

Global Climate Change and its likely affect on Japan

In looking at the island nation of Japan, global climate change and a warming of the planet holds the possibility of catastrophic effect. According to the APEC Center for Environmental Technology based in Osaka City, a sea level rise of 50cm would result in the disappearance of 70% of the sandy beaches in Japan. A rise of 1 meter would result in a loss of 90% of sandy beaches in Japan and 100% of the beaches in Osaka. People living in the lowlands of Japan would likely lose their homes and be forced to relocate to higher ground.[i]

In addition, shifts in the climate will likely affect the agricultural output of certain zones. In Japan climate change could impact rice production by as much as 40% according to the 2007 IPPC report as reported by the Japan Times.[ii] This is likely due to the decline in potentially good agricultural land. Japan also relies heavily on food imports to sustain its population’s needs and similar declines in food yield in China and Australia will likely affect its ability to sustain. The recent droughts occurring in Australia for example created an increase in imported food costs for Japan.

For these reasons and for others which have not yet been discussed it can be assumed that the Japanese culture would look highly upon the notion of sustainable living. The Japanese would have much to lose if sea levels began to rise. And certainly even more to lose if the rise begins earlier than anticipated as recently reported by the journal Science. They reported that there is a possibility of a sea level rise of 21 feet in certain parts of the world.[iii]

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[i] APEC Virtual Center for Environmental Technology Exchange. “What Results from Global Warming?” <http://www.epcc.pref.osaka.jp/apec/eng/earth/global_warming/dounaru.html>

[ii] Japan Times. “Climate Change Could Decrease Rice Yields by as much as 40%.” <http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20070920a9.html>

[iii] Oregon State University. “Sea Level Rise Could be Worse than Anticipated” <http://oregonstate.edu/dept/ncs/newsarch/2009/Feb09/icesheet.html>

Japanese Sustainability

I will be posting a research paper I wrote for my class trip to Japan. It's on sustainability. Here is the abstract:

This paper seeks to understand the role that sustainability plays in the Japanese culture and the affects that climate change has had on Japan’s awareness of sustainable living.

I will start with chapter 1 today! Enjoy!

Defining “Sustainability”

Sustainability is often defined as the ability to maintain balance. The most often used forms of looking at sustainability are environmental and business. In business, sustainability is often looked at as a way for a firm to survive without undertaking massive debt, layoffs or undergoing shifts in strategy in inopportune times. Often sustainable business models are sought after as one of the more successful ways to run a business over a long period of time.

In terms of environmental sustainability, the form is similar but the focus moves toward the impact an individual, organization or business has on its environment. The Regional Ecosystem Office defines sustainability as,”The ability of an ecosystem to maintain ecological processes and functions, biological diversity, and productivity over time.” [i]

Sustainability has taken on many variations over the past ten years as humans begin to awaken to the likely fact that we are affecting our planet’s ecosystem negatively. The International Panel of Climate Change has written numerous reports on the likely causes of climate change and have found scientific results that point to an accelerated warming of the atmosphere through human usage of fossil fuels. From a recently released report to policy makers, the IPCC offers this scientifically proven fact; “Eleven of the last twelve years (1995-2006) rank among the warmest years in the instrumental record of global surface temperature (since 1850).”[ii] Reports like the IPCC and also the recent energy price shock experience across the globe in the summer of 2008 have put efforts to reduce our consumption of fossil fuels the forefront.

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[i] Regional Ecosystem Office (U.S), Definition of Ecological Sustainability. <http://www.reo.gov/general/definitions_r-s.htm#S>

[ii] International Panel for Climate Change. AR4 Synthesis Report, “Summary for Policy Makers.” <http://www.ipcc.ch/index.htm>

Japan is full of Sustainable Practices

I have found so much in Japan revolving around efficiency, sustainability and just being respectful of one another, it's a beautiful thing.

I hope to post more tomorrow, stay tuned!!

Went to Shabuyah Last Night

Shabuyah is like the trendiest area for young people on Tokyo...all the cools kids hang out there...

I have found that Japan is an amazing place to live, eat, shop and have fun...I can't wait to come back again.

We leave Tokyo today for Kyoto...Kyoto is going to be more of an old time Japanese experience.  Most Japanese I have spoke to have told me it is their favorite place to go.

Here are the pics from the trip so far...