Posted on 01/21/2007 8:46:58 PM PST by Eric Blair 2084
Visit the temples that grace the hills of Kyoto, Japan's ancient capital, and it's not hard to see why the city seems like the perfect birthplace for the global-warming pact that was named for it. At the end of my trip last November, I toured the grounds of Nanzenji, a Buddhist complex that sprawls through the wooded slopes to the east of the city, and watched red and gold leaves fall upon a rock garden, where they were swept up by monks. Kyoto's temples show how humans can live in nature and actually add to it, not just take from it.
Then I caught a cab back to the city center. The moment we left the temple, we struck gridlock on Kyoto's narrow streets. As we crawled toward the train station, I had ample time to look at the garish neon signs that seemed to sprout from every rooftop, transforming the scenery even as they spent energy. It was a reminder that while Kyoto embodies the aspirations of that famous protocol, it is still a modern city, with all the energy, cars and carbon that implies.
So it is with all of Japan. The world's second largest economy is undeniably its most efficient wealthy energy user, burning barely more than half as much oil per capita as the U.S. does and producing half as much carbon per person. What's more, it's not just energy hogs like the U.S. that Japan puts to shame; it even beats stridently green countries like Germany. But while Japan takes its Kyoto Protocol commitments seriously, it's still likely to fall far short of those goals.
Across the country, carbon emissions have actually grown more than 8% since 1990, a pattern reflected in Kyoto itself, where the number of cars increased from 1.3 million in 1990 to 2 million in 2002. The nation as a whole will need to slash emissions about 14% to achieve its targets. Which raises the obvious question: If ultra-efficient Japan can't wean itself from the carbon habit, what hope does the rest of the world have?
In an island country that has always had too many people on too little land, conservation has long been a part of life. The shoguns of the Edo era saved Japan's rapidly dwindling forests--and perhaps the country itself--through strict logging regulations. Although less likely than their samurai forebears to enforce conservation with decapitation, Japan's modern leaders do take a frugal approach to energy. Since 1973, Japan has nearly tripled its industrial output while holding energy consumption in the manufacturing sector roughly flat. Household appliances have increased in size while using less energy, thanks to a government program called Top Runner that constantly raises efficiency standards, making Japanese homes twice as efficient as their American counterparts.
Mindful of Kyoto, the government has lately shifted the focus to cutting greenhouse gases. That gave birth to the Cool Biz policy in 2005, under which offices save energy by keeping summer temperatures at a stifling 82.4°F (28°C). To beat the heat, salarymen are told to doff their black suits in favor of light colors and open collars. The result made the Prime Minister occasionally look as if he were addressing parliament from a beach in Waikiki, but at least Cool Biz had more style than a similar Japanese idea from the 1970s: the short-sleeved business suit. Sartorial concerns aside, Cool Biz saved about 79,000 tons of carbon dioxide in 2005.
Still good for some fodder to post here though.
It may not matter much, but I decided to boycott the NYT, Time Magazine, and Newsweek 5 years ago. They are mere propaganda rags. What used to be serious journalism years ago have become mere platforms for a liberal socialist agenda in America. They have lulled a large portion of the US electorate into a sleep from which an awakening might occur, too late. All have a distinct policy of bending the truth about Muslims in America to the point of obfuscation. They also ignore news which might be positive to out President, and ignore news about the true agenda in America of organizations such as CAIR.
All three rags have sophomoric approaches to issues raised by the demographic warfare being waged by Mexico along our southern border.
The sooner all three tank, the better for our nation.
Kyoto is indeed a beautiful city. It has nothing to do with the Kyoto Protocols on the environment. Neither is there much understanding given in Walsh's article about the Buddhist temples in Kyoto, or the monks who live there. You would find that they have little motivation to subscribe to the vehicle of Global Warming Evangelism.
Buddhism is a way of life which has given rise to an integrative approach with nature, which is hardly an earmark of Japan's current relationship with the environment,one which is hardly integrative, but very controlling and manipulative, using the most adavnced science available, such as in pesticides, for example. The idea that Japan sees itself under a duty to comply to Kyoto Protocols as a cultural matter shared by all Japanese is pure bunk, only a created image. Japan's culture does not = popular environmentalism. Both Shinto and Buddhism relate directly to a spiritual point of view that blessings come from respecting nature while controlling it absolutely.
Look at the care with which nature is duplicated in a Zen Garden. It is anything but environmental, and is hardly natural. It is a representation of "ideal nature" , a sophisticated imitation. Similarly the carbon dioxide emissions will never be brought to equal those required by Kyoto's Accords, but those emissions too will become part of the ongoing ideation of nature in Japan, as has been happening there for thousands of years,so that what is unnatural at one time becomes a part of nature in another.
For most Westerners that would be cheating, but not for the Japanese. This profound truth is not mentioned by Time's Bryan Walsh, who assumes that his readership is 100% sophomoric. I suppose in the next few years he will laud the fact that any Japanese planning on burning more than a tank of fuel a week in their automobiles will need travel permits from the government. Individual freedoms be damned, which is what environmentalism is all about, an excuse for more totalitariaon government involvement in the daily life of ordinary Americans.
Environmentalists are like prohibitionists of the 1920s and 1930s. Eventually our technology will likely progress to the point where we will need little of no fossil fuels,and it is only by this method that free peoples around the world will balance their industry and machinery with the environment.It will have nothing to do with people going "al fresca" instead of using air conditioning at the office. Walsh is not only laughable, but is actually underwhelming in his supposition of his readership's ignorance. It is this consistently patrenalistic approach which has readers deserting Time by the millions. But sssssshhhhh! Don't tell them.
I guess the writer never went to any public parks in Japan, people act like swine in them there.
The reason the LA Times, Time, Air America and other liberal propaganda tools tank is because the market is already saturated with left wing BS between NBC, CBS, ABC, CNN and the NY Times.
There is only so much shelf space for socialist propaganda to go around.
And this is how Kyoto pays us back for taking it off the list of cities to be targeted with atomic bombs.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.