Kids Web Japan

The Noshiro Wind Power Station (Tohoku Natural Energy Development Co.)

A house fitted with solar panels on the roof (Misawa Homes Co.)

As modern life has become more comfortable and convenient, there has been a growing trend to make things, use them once, and then throw them away. This has caused many kinds of environmental problems, including air and water pollution, destruction of the natural environment, global warming, and massive amounts of waste. Environmental protection is a vital task not only for Japan but also for the whole world. Led by the Japanese government, Japanese people are currently engaged in a wide range of environmental protection efforts.

The price of the convenience of modern life is the generation of a lot of waste. If this waste is simply taken to landfills, the result will be ever-growing mountains of garbage. We must now build a recycling society in which things are used sparingly and can be used again and again instead of being thrown away. Japan has made great progress in cutting down the amount of garbage and recycling used products. The recycling of cans and plastic bottles is especially well established in Japan.

Comfortable lives require a lot of energy, including electricity, gas, and gasoline. Producing electricity and operating machines by burning fuels like oil and coal releases carbon dioxide and other gases into the air, and these gases cause problems like global warming and air pollution. Global warming is a problem in which temperatures around the world rise. In order to prevent it, the amount of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases must be reduced. At COP3, a major conference on the prevention of global warming held in the Japanese city of Kyoto in 1997, many countries promised to reduce the amount of greenhouse gases they produce. The Kyoto Protocol agreed at the meeting came into effect in February 2005.

One way of combating global warming is to use "clean" forms of energy that do not result in emissions of gases. Solar, wind, and geothermal energies are just some of the kinds of clean energy available. Japan is actively developing and introducing clean energy as part of its efforts to tackle global warming and cut pollution.

Japan is working to help countries around the world tackle environmental problems by providing them with environmental technologies for recycling and cutting greenhouse gas emissions.