Posts Tagged ‘community actions’

Is it a fun park? Is it an art-deco building? No, it’s an incineration plant!

Really? Yep, you can even take tours there. (See below for tour details.)

The topic of incineration in Japan, one of the world’s biggest incinerators of trash, is fairly divisive. While most westerners tend to be confused and shocked to hear that a modern industrial nation incinerates most of its trash (as we pointed out this week in Incineration in Japan: Paper, Food Scraps, Infectious Medical Wastes and even Plastics?), Japanese people take it for granted as part of daily life and after a while living in Japan you get used to the idea that huge volumes of garbage are burnt on a daily basis. However, this does not mean that incineration is as safe as “they” say. (more…)

The debate between the uses of incineration for waste management is controversial around the world.

From the first time I set foot in the train stations in Tokyo, garbage sorting stations were everywhere.  The garbage sorting stations consist of four compartments. The green compartment for newspapers and magazines, the lime green one for PET bottles, the blue one for cans and the red one for other garbage. However, I was confused about why they mix paper and plastic in the red compartment as I had assumed they take the time to separate this compartment for recycling once it reached a garbage facility. I thought, why not have two more compartments, the fifth compartment for paper and the sixth compartment for plastic to bypass the need for separation once it reached a garbage facility.

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Want to learn how to build a house out of six million empty beer bottles or use local materials to simply keep food fresh up to 10 times longer? Then check out eco-ideas.net, a global environmental communication portal supported by Panasonic as part of its commitment to promote the power of ideas and to accelerate the shift to greener lifestyles.

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Freecycle is one of the world’s largest online eco communities whose mission it is to reduce waste and keep things out of landfills for longer. The way it works is simple. Use the internet to connect people who want to swap things they no longer need. You can find anything from TVs to bikes, furniture or fondue sets being given away for free. In the words of founder Deron Beal, “The goal is to make it easier to give an item away than to throw the item away, thus keeping good stuff out of landfills and helping Mother Nature.”

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Melanie Mullen at green drinks Tokyo November

At the last green drinks Tokyo we were happy to host Melanie Mullen for a discussion on Art & Redeveloping Downtown. Melanie is founder and President of Green Building Company (re)cover inc., was the Canadian national representative of the Sierra Club of Canada and the Green Party of Canada at COP13 in Bali and co-organized the release of the Global Greens statement on the Bali negotiations.

Here at greenz.jp, we have introduced a number of different local community action groups such as Akizuno Juku (pictured below) run by Akizuno Garten Co, where members of the local community in Tanabe, Wakayama converted a disused school into the ‘Akizuno Garten,’ where people can try their hand at farming.

Akizuno Garten. Photo by Akizuno Juku

Previously, we also introduced “50 Ways to Renew a Closed-Down School” a collection of examples of old school buildings that have been transformed by local communities released by MEXT in 2003, and Tottori city’s project to collect and reuse old cooking oils such as tempura oil using a robot named Yukai-kun. So it was nice to hear from someone who is getting active on the other side of the ocean.

Melanie’s overriding message is “Think Globally Act Locally,” but she doesn’t just mean this in an abstract way. Her involvement in environmental initiatives began at age 13, and she succeeded in raising $3.1 million when she was in university to retrofit  buildings for energy and environmental efficiency.

She became a candidate for the Green Party of Canada at age 24, and went on to become deputy leader. Of course, attaining that post at such a young age garnered her lots of media attention, and she made sure that didn’t go to waste. She used the media to redirect people’s focus toward local action in her area and live out her promise to “Act Locally.”

Her hometown of Niagara Falls, had been devastated when large stores like Big Box, WalMart, and other huge stores came in, killing the local economy and putting small companies out of business. Melanie showed us pictures of the town just a few years ago, an abandoned, broken down shell that was the downtown historical area of Niagara Falls. All the local business was dead, and buildings were boarded up. Melanie said this was the direct result of “30 years saturated with Development prepositions and plans to no success.”

Living up to her philosophy, Melanie stepped up to the community and stated: “We deserve a lively downtown, with a strong arts and culture scene, and jobs for young people.” She called a meeting downtown, in a cold, empty building, and only 10 people showed up. But that didn’t disappoint her at all. The group discussed how to bring business back, and stop young people leaving and going to large cities like Toronto. They made a promise to meet every Monday night, and bring another 10 people each.

This band of merry artists got into media, and they capitalized on their local fame to go to landlords and ask for a space as the buildings were lying empty anyway. One allowed them to borrow a building to meet in, which they repainted, and opened the doors to the public. Everyone voted online to name the place and they settled on “4 triple 5,” the street number of the building.

In the period after that, Melanie aggressively demanded community creativity input. The group issued the “your 2 cents Downtown Challenge,” to get people to create their own radio ad/jingle to support downtown revitalization, with CA$20,000 to the winner.

People in the town wanted theater, places for art, and to be active in the community. The program gained attention and momentum and they collected input from the wider community, which led to the creation of a strategic plan. The plan focused on (1) Large events, and (2) Support for local artists.

Melanie established an input circle for Downtown revitalization consisting of:
- Mayor (approached first)
- Council
- BIA (Biz Improvement Assoc)
- City Staff
- Historic Niagara (property owners)
- Community
- Stakeholders
- Celebrate Old Downtown Niagara NFP

Next, they developed the “Hand of Success” with community input:
- Condo, residences
- Entertainment, theater
- Arts & crafts, markets
- Restaurants, bistros, cafes
- Music, culture

They initiated the “Community Ownership Clean Up Day,” cleaned up outside buildings, planted flowers, and other projects and created a feeling of pride and ownership in the community. They established temporary artists studios, introducing artists to building owners in exchange for 4 months free rent. The artists cleaned inside buildings, created beautiful window displays and fostered lively traffic in the area. Some of the buildings had been empty for years or decades so it wasn’t a bad deal.

Next, the town hosted 4 major cultural events and brought the masses downtown. These events were free, but artists had to become member of the community art group, CAn (Community Artists Niagara). After that participation increased in various events, the group ensured artists got 4 months free rent and provided a forum for submitting funding applications.

One festival was “Queen Art Saturdays: Where Life Becomes Art.” People wore art to the festival and they held afterparties at 4 triple 5. 3,000 people turned up and buildings were filled with artists and customers. People started to see the potential of a vitalic downtown community. Feature Films, from Toronto, found the Saturated Creative Zone attractive and started to shoot films there. Artists were then able to hold lessons, etc. thanks to support from “hand of success,” ongoing events, etc.

This success story meant local small business owners rented buildings, they ensured maximum reuse of existing buildings and infrastructure, promoted public transit, increased cultural appeal and hosted cultural events, supported the artist community and creative class, and were reflective of the regional environment.

We held a Q&A session with Melanie after the presentation. Below are some of the questions

(Q) How long was the process?

From beginning to end one year though it was initially estimated it would be a three year process. Prior to that the city had never hosted a major festival. Partnerships were incredibly important. BIA would do all marketing for artists, city would ensure roads were blocked off, etc.

(Q) How did you ensure continued artist support?

I did lots of research, but in some areas artists have been kicked out. So we made sure to set up the system so the artists continue to be supported, even now. People often find fulfillment in material things with a disposable lifestyle. People buy things and then throw them away next year. Art is not disposable, you get fulfillment but without the resource use. Obtaining caps on rent to ensure that increasing rents don’t drive out artists is one idea we would like to try.

We were successful in establishing a live theater after input from the community saying they wanted alternatives to movies.

(Q) Advice for Japan?

Create a community. Getting the artists together is the hardest part but once you have person to person relationships in place it will become permanent. That network is strong so whether the rent goes up and that community moves to another area you still have that strong network.

Of course there was plenty of delicious food and drinks as always!

Find out more about the revitalization project and Niagara Falls at: http://www.queenstreetniagarafalls.com

Don’t forget to check out the full slideshow of green drinks Tokyo November.

Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.

The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry put the word out for progressive businesses in Japan, and compiled the top 55 ‘Social Businesses’.
A Social Business refers to an operating business that deals with such social issues as boosting local economies, the declining birthrate and aging population, the environment, and poverty.
While there is great hope that these businesses will provide stable and sustainable employment in the community while providing relief for social issues, awareness of these businesses is still not high. Businesses were picked up in each region in the hope of inspiring others to follow suit.
Let’s take a look at one of these social businesses, ‘Akizuno Juku’ run by Akizuno Garten Co.
Here members of the local community in Tanabe, Wakayama converted a disused school into ‘Akizuno Garten’ (see photo above) where you can try your hand at farming. Product development to promote local produce has also helped provide a sustainable boost for both the community and economy.
The reason this project was chosen was because the community members themselves have taken control to brighten up their town, and make it a more comfortable place to live. They were the first in the Kinki Region to receive the Emperors Cup in the Community Development division of the Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Festival in 1996. Consequently, communities from all over the country have been visiting and making inquiries to find out about ‘community development before municipal mergers’.
Activities focus on bringing the community together to discuss new business ideas and deal with issues that arise in daily life, and also managing and maintaining shared assets such as forests. These shared assets have been essential to the smooth running and development of the community.
The beauty of the Akizuno Juku is not simply the use of new ideas and things, but that it draws on the unique characteristics of the community it is rooted in. However Akizuno is also facing its own challenges. As a big mandarin producing region, it has suffered from the recent drop in prices, and new housing developments have changed interaction within the local populace. The real challenge may have just begun.
It’s great that the government is recognizing positive projects such as this. However just recognizing them has limited effect. Social businesses face issues such as the aging populace, and young people migrating to the city. While spreading awareness is important, more concrete plans need to be implemented to make a real difference.

This article is translated from the original Japanese post

In my post here on greenz.jp last week I came up with a tentative definition of “sustainability” as part of this ongoing series exploring sustainable living in Japan. This week I’d like to jump right into the action and introduce a Japanese organization whose aim is to share traditional Japanese values with the world in order to promote sustainable living.

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