Japan gets 2nd-highest score after Canada in shameful awards on climate

Saturday 13th December, 04:26 PM JST

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sf2k at 03:59 PM JST - 14th December

jam_sandwich: much of what you say is true but the fact is that Canadians are well educated so can weather a change in economy well if they could just get away from the oil marketing. The western part of the country is more stuck in this mindset but the whole country has never really faced energy shortages before, so it's a real mental challenge. With a falling USA though, we'll be forced to rediscover our talents and it'll work out okay. The withdrawal symptoms are going to be rough though. Eastern Canada will fair much better Ontario/Quebec.

I agree that Japan has a lot of potential, and every country does to some extent. The urban design of Japan is such that as larger cities will become unliveable the smaller towns can take back people again.

USA is our largest trading partner. With an Obama office the Canadian gov't will have to smarten up if they want to have opportunities there. It'll be odd with a progressive USA and a stagnant Canada.
borscht at 08:34 PM JST - 14th December

Loki520,

Thank you for your reply. I didn't see you mention the EPW report. How about the one for the sun? That's the one I'm interested in more than the other.
bushlover at 12:14 AM JST - 15th December

Sarge said it best above. And I'd like to see all those advocating we "do something about Global Warming" stop using heating fuel, gasoline, and electricity before I do. Let them practice what they preach. We all know they can't and are full of it. It being Methane!!
jam_sandwich at 03:30 AM JST - 15th December

Great job Bushlover, maybe it has not occurred to you that new technologies are always more expensive then their conventional counterparts. The reason these people are advocating the global warming crisis, is because they want a large scale change to the system in which we receive and consume energy. Doing so would involve the governing bodies currently empowered now to actually promote these technologies, and to help companies develop them into the mainstream. The people advocating they "do something about Global Warming", are most likely taking steps to ensure their energy consumption is lower than the average Joe, driving their big SUV to the McDonalds on the corner to buy their greasy meals (produced from huge industrial farms) so they can go home and consume electricity on their 68" T.V and speaker system. Maybe if government bodies were more active in promoting a lifestyle which is positive for the environment, we'd might not be in this mess. Its easy not to listen to the people when Shell, or Imperial is waving six figure cheques in your face. The fact of the matter is, the rules of the game in which most people live their life are being controlled by these large companies with selfish interests. Environmental groups get marginalized as radicals, or terrorists, simply because they have to resort to alternative methods of getting their message out, since they have no voice. This is true for Japan, Canada, and especially America. Europe (although not all of it) seems to be the only place where the environment is placed on the political agenda, and actually holds some clout. However, since your online handle is Bushlover, I assume you're a member of the minority that actually benefited from the moronic rule of Dubya, (who probably contained the most methane of us all).
sf2k at 03:57 AM JST - 15th December

Japan is going to have a rough time, given the he-ta- kerosene and the total lack of insulation in homes. Canadians drive up heating due to the cold, and from all our driving. So we're both idiots but from different standpoints, stuck in our respective cultures.

However if we exchanged notes we'd both come out ahead. (Canada needs more trains, Japan needs insulation etc I'm sure there's a lot more to compare) Alas that would take recognition of another countries' success versus where our own failures are, and I can't see our conservative PM caring a wit.

If we can engage on a worldwide best practices, we'd be further ahead on this. Please no more useless meetings. Make notes of what differs from your own experience and seems to work better in your opinion. I'd be interested in your findings ;) Feel free to comment on 1) what is normal to you and 2) why what you experienced seems to be better from a climate change/energy efficiency standard? http://energyblog.wordpress.com

Cheers
sf2k at 03:58 AM JST - 15th December

direct link here: http://energyblog.wordpress.com/2008/12/14/different-country-energy-comparisions/
sageb1 at 04:56 AM JST - 15th December

the only way to go Green is to become a 3rd world nation economically, and charge tourist tax from eco-tourism.
sangetsu at 02:50 PM JST - 15th December

Interesting article, now that the global warming phenomena seems to have stopped. It snowed in New Orleans last week for the first time in living memory, April of 2008 was recorded as the 29th coldest since measurements begain taken. Cold weather records around the world were broken last winter. Now "global warming" has been changed to "climate change". It appears that the "world's leading scientests" were, in fact, wrong. And, regardless of all this, no one, even the most ardent "climate change" proponent bothers to explain that Co2 doesn't cause global warming, but seems to be an after-effect of it. "Climate change" was never a genuine scientific fact, but a political movement against capitalism. And even that was false, I wonder how much the stock value in Al Gore's carbon credit trading company has fallen this year? I wonder if he'll have to give back his Nobel Prize after having scammed the governments of the world out of a trillion or so dollars to fight a problem that never existed in the first place?
sangetsu at 02:59 PM JST - 15th December

"Great job Bushlover, maybe it has not occurred to you that new technologies are always more expensive then their conventional counterparts. The reason these people are advocating the global warming crisis, is because they want a large scale change to the system in which we receive and consume energy. Doing so would involve the governing bodies currently empowered now to actually promote these technologies, and to help companies develop them into the mainstream. The people advocating they "do something about Global Warming", are most likely taking steps to ensure their energy consumption is lower than the average Joe, driving their big SUV to the McDonalds on the corner to buy their greasy meals (produced from huge industrial farms) so they can go home and consume electricity on their 68" T.V and speaker system. Maybe if government bodies were more active in promoting a lifestyle which is positive for the environment, we'd might not be in this mess. Its easy not to listen to the people when Shell, or Imperial is waving six figure cheques in your face. The fact of the matter is, the rules of the game in which most people live their life are being controlled by these large companies with selfish interests. Environmental groups get marginalized as radicals, or terrorists, simply because they have to resort to alternative methods of getting their message out, since they have no voice. This is true for Japan, Canada, and especially America. Europe (although not all of it) seems to be the only place where the environment is placed on the political agenda, and actually holds some clout. However, since your online handle is Bushlover, I assume you're a member of the minority that actually benefited from the moronic rule of Dubya, (who probably contained the most methane of us all)."

You are ignorant. It turns out that these large "industrial farms" do not contribute to global warming. We've all heard that cow produce vast amounts of methane, which is a supposed greenhouse gas, yet we haven't been told that methane levels in our atmosphere are lower than they were a decade ago, and continuing to decrease. You also seem to be unaware that the huge farms of Iowa, Nebraska, etc., actually reflect large amounts of solar radiation, which actually helps cool the earth. These large farms pretty much neutralize the urban hotspots, in one of which I would guess you to live.
Loki520 at 06:04 PM JST - 15th December

Borsht, nice response. My apologies for going abrasive right off the bat.

There is a report on the sun, discussing sun-spots, the lack of sun-spots, and weather patterns that tie wild swings in temperature variations to sun spot activity. It is also available on the EPW site, but tragically enough every time I go there today, I get a 404... I have the report saved at work, tomorrow I'll email it to myself so I can access from home. Apparently, Japan Today is a threat to national security and I can't get to it thru my firewall at work. I can get to zivity.com just fine, but not JT? Geeks just don't know how to have fun.
jam_sandwich at 03:04 PM JST - 16th December

Industrial farms? Feedlot beef? Please do not lecture me on the waste produced by industrial farming. Perhaps it has not occurred to you that pollution takes other forms than air pollution. These huge industrial wastelands are responsible for choking out water supplies, and as well the soil gets polluted with various forms of pesticides and insecticides. yummy! I was not talking about cows producing methane you arse! I was referring to the huge amounts of chemicals needed to grow feed for cattle, and as well the hormones injected to those nice slabs of "beef" you eat when you consume a Big Mac. Lets not forget the amount of energy it takes to import beef grown cheaper in other countries. Canada, Japan, America, almost all industrial countries are guilty of this systematized nonsense. Besides, my point was not to bash industrial farms (which are part to blame), but to criticize the larger system in which we live. A system in which (my representative) governing body has spent $25 million of tax payer dollars to "polish" the image of tar sands oil. Would not that money be spent cleaning up after the environmental impact of withdrawing oil from the ground. It just shows what the government thinks is important: big business.
bushlover at 11:23 AM JST - 17th December

Jam you have such good ideas. I bet you make a good living off of them. Has anyone yet offered you a high paying job to solve the world's energy problems? Or is the man sticking it to you again with those 'industrial farms'?
whatadick at 01:44 PM JST - 17th December

You are ignorant. It turns out that these large "industrial farms" do not contribute to global warming. We've all heard that cow produce vast amounts of methane, which is a supposed greenhouse gas, yet we haven't been told that methane levels in our atmosphere are lower than they were a decade ago, and continuing to decrease. You also seem to be unaware that the huge farms of Iowa, Nebraska, etc., actually reflect large amounts of solar radiation, which actually helps cool the earth. These large farms pretty much neutralize the urban hotspots, in one of which I would guess you to live.

Sangetsu, where did this info come from? I am interested.
EurajReturns at 02:18 AM JST - 18th December

Derek:

fink Alf was being sarcastic. He's as British as the Union Jack.

Most man made global warming is made by Americans. Andrew Marr said they produce 20% of the worlds emissions. They are rich because they destroy everythink they touch, including the environment and that.

While Loki is speaking to his English teacher, I'll be speaking to your Math teacher since twenty percent obviously isn't "most." The Earth would heat, as it has done in the past, whether humans exist or not. Although the accelleration of the process has crossed my mind, I'm not surprised that many of the world's leading economies aren't bending over backwards in the middle of an economic crisis to stop a process that is already virtually out of control.
LunaAinoKaioh at 09:47 AM JST - 18th December

all of this is messed up it I mean america probablly switched the votes so the people of america would realise this country [america] is scum