Japan vs. the U.S.

I've cared about the state of the environment since I was in high school and every trip I've taken from the flora of Costa Rica to the Sequoia of California to the rain forests of Puerto Rico to the lushness of Papua New Guinea has only deepened that passion.

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Living abroad often affords reflection on one's own country and comparisons with the current residence. I recently got to comparing them in the arena of the environment. While Japan is overwhelmingly more green, there are a few areas where the U.S. does win out. On to the tale of the tape:

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The greatest crisis facing the planet is global warming brought on by out of control carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. Perhaps it is not surprising that the home of the Kyoto protocol (signed by every major developed country in the world *except* the United States) kicks the U.S.'s behind when it comes to mitigating global warming. The U.S. produces about *twice* as much CO2 as Japan per person. Twice. 100% more. There are a variety of factors that contribute to that including much more efficient cars, heating and cooling only parts of homes, extensive use of public transportation, and simply a smaller country which requires less transportation of goods and people.

What is even more astounding, however, is that the average Japanese car gets 45 miles per gallon (!) compared with less than 25 in the U.S. How pathetic is it that even China has more efficient cars than the U.S.? Many on the right claim a false dichotomy between the environment or the economy. The Japanese have shown that it can be both. Unfortunately for the U.S., as the entire world starts to change technologies to stave off the oncomming crisis, we will be importing all of the new technologies instead of producing them domestically and thus reaping the economic rewards of jobs and profits.

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Japan is also fervent about recycling. It is often difficult to find a garbage can but recycling containers abound. Even at McDonald's, customers separate their waste into combustibles and non-combustibles at the very least. Often they get sorted into glass, plastic, paper, etc. It can be quite intricate.

While the majority of environmental areas, Japan kicks butt, there are some areas for improvement I have found. First, insulation is lacking. Better insulation and windows would save a lot in terms of energy needed for heating and cooling. Second, unnecessary lighting. Neon signs are everywhere and also compact fluorescent bulbs are not very common. In a similar vain, all of those vending machines certainly eat up a lot of unnecessary energy (and contribute the proportional amount of CO2). Lastly, packaging is out of control here. Often things are individually wrapped and then put into one or more other packages. For example, I have a bag of small chocolate chip cookies -- all individually wrapped. Another time we bought two small puddings at a store. They were in glass containers and wrapped in plastic. Those were then put in a box with tissue paper and the box was wrapped and then put into a plastic bag! Excess packaging is certainly a waste of resources. Nevertheless, the U.S. and the rest of the world could stand to learn a thing or two about caring for the Earth from the Japanese .