Thursday, February 15, 2007

Green Airlines

Below is my comment on "Green Airlines", the article of TIME magazine dated on February 5th, 2007.

What looked shocking in your article is the definitive contrast of two figures as to greenhouse effects by jet, namely the only 1.6% of airline contribution to greenhouse gases on a global scale and the enormous 2,400 kg of carbon per person emitted by a round-trip flight between NY and Tokyo on an individual level.

Awful enough is that the more time and far away we travel by jet, the more carbon is inevitably emitted and there is little alternative of jet transportation with such speed, even though its portion still seems small in the overall greenhouse gases.

In that sense, your title of “Greenhouse Airlines” symbolizes the deadlock of the environmental hazards that our human beings are now facing as a result of more comfort and speed in life. The first and only step for us to overcome it is to know the very fact, anyway.

Thursday, February 01, 2007

Kyoto, Heal Thyself

Below is my comment on the article of "Kyoto, Heal Thyself", TIME dated
on January 29 2007.
After reading your article about Kyoto, I really had a mixed feeling of
proudness and shame as one of the Japanese in the land of the world
second largest economy equipped with the most energy-efficient and
eco-friendly technologies, but at the same time barely attained the
target of slashing the Carbon output stipulated by Kyoto protocol in 1997.

What is at stake now to save the planet from the global warming is to
realize the harsh realities and to stand up by yourself to act, never to
depend on the government, the green-counscious corporations.

In that sense, we should not forget that Kyoto gives us a lot of
historical wisdom to harmonize with the Mother nature such as shrines
and temples abound in green.