EarthNews
Hummer Classified as “Eco Car” in Japan
Mar 9th, 2010
Planet Earth Has No Borders. We Created Them.
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Although not frequent, there has been some discussion about eco cars here on greenz in the past. You may remember our features on the National Institute for Environmental Science’s CO2 map of Japan, Park24, one of Japan’s first car-sharing services, and of course our guide to how renewable hydrogen will change transportation as we know it. Recently, however, we heard some rather surprising news — via Sankei News (Japanese only) and the Asiajin blog — about the new range of cars that qualify for the Japanese government’s “Eco Car” tax subsidies. One in particular, the Hummer H3 V8, was quite a shock to many of us. (more…)
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Nagoya is in the global spotlight as the city hosts the United Nations conference on biological diversity, starting on October 18, 2010 – in my opinion a much more important topic than how Toyota, with major factories in the city, will deal with its current crisis. We cannot afford to ignore biological diversity and genetic resources, and the ecosystems involving nature, plants, animals and humans are too complex to rebuild and once they are lost, what will we do about it? (more…)
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The latest news from the green scene in Japan. This week in the Green News Roundup: Is Honda’s hybrid sports car a world first? Mitsubishi Electric is looking to triple solar production by 2012, and Fuji Electric and GE launch a joint venture to produce smart grid meters. (more…)
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Photo by United Nations. Creative Commons. Some Rights Reserved.
The magnitude 7.0 earthquake that ravaged Haiti on January 12 has already claimed over 100,000 lives, and literally shaken the foundations of millions of others. Occurring 15 years almost to the day from the Great Hanshin-Awaji earthquake, one of the worst to hit Japan in living memory, there has been no lack of news covering the devastation in Haiti.
While most of us would be hard pushed to match the million-dollar donation by Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, relief efforts in Japan have started to gear up, mainly through the internet. Listed below are a selection of websites that allow you to help people in a country where the only thing remaining is hope. (more…)
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Source: BBC News
The UK is about to send it’s first shipment of nuclear waste back to where it first came from – Japan. This is not the first batch to reach Japanese shores. Since 1995, 12 shipments of nuclear waste originating in Japan have already been returned from facilities in France. The UK shipment is due to arrive in Japan before the end of March, where there are already local storage facilities in place. The UK plant, Sellafield, is not only fulfilling contractual obligations from the 1970’s, but is returning the nuclear waste in accordance with international policy. (more…)
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Forest Milk: Winner Good Design Award 2009
Have you checked out the 2009 Good Design Award recipients yet?
Amongst eco-friendly products such as the Toyota Prius, Honda Insight, and Ene-farm Fuel Cell systems, greenz.jp noticed a bottle of ‘forest milk’ by Amita Corporation. Forest milk is produced through forest farming, a technique developed to add extra value to plantation forests. The milk from cows living in these forests has been chosen for the best package design award. (more…)
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“You don’t have to be a pro to do it!”
With those words one young man began running. The 3000 kilometer “You Can Do It” Marathon, form Aomori to Okinawa began on September 27th. This cruel journey begins in Rokkasho village in Aomori prefecture and through full distance, 42.195 km, daily marathons ends 71 days later in Naha city, Okinawa.
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Kiko is the Japanese word for “climate change” and Kiko Network is one of the Japanese NGOs that participated in Copenhagen to try to influence the negotiations. Based in Kyoto, they have a lot of members and activists who wanted the Kyoto Protocol to be succeeded by a binding protocol to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. That didn’t happen, as the United States, China and others failed to find common ground for a global agreement.
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Some rights reserved by Melissa Maplesgreenz.jp Green Drinks Tokyo Xmas Special!
Thursday December 17, 2009 from 7pm
Welcome to the hottest Green Party of 2009! Led with funky tunes from jazz guitarist Jiro Yoshida, there will be Christmas presents and cake, drinks and good food. Don’t forget to bring your friends (see below for special reTweet prizes). Dress code: Green (of course!).
Please register below so we know how much food and drink to order.
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EarthNews
No Nukes and No MOX Fuel. 11 Year Old Starts Petition Against Pluthermal Power.
Nov 30th, 2009
Part of the ‘children’s petition to stop pluthermal use’ stating the dangers of using the extremely toxic plutonium rich MOX fuel, and asking for a future where children and other living beings can live in peace.We caught wind of a child in Ehime conducting a petition against the local nuclear power station switching to plutonium-uranium mixed oxide (MOX) fuel, known locally as ‘pluthermal’. The image above shows part of a handwritten petition penned by the eleven-year-old child. It is addressed to the chairperson of the Ehime Prefectural Assembly.
