Ecology

Both Japan and South Korea have announced that they would become carbon neutral by 2050. However, neither country has a clear roadmap or specific policies to attain this target. And, in fact, both governments are pursuing policies that are inconsistent with their pledges. 

December 12, 2020, will be the 5th anniversary of the adoption of the Paris Climate Agreement. This analysis provides important materials and pursues the questions: Where do we stand in dealing with the climate crisis? What false solutions must be avoided? And how can we push the urgently needed radical course change in pursuit of climate justice?

In former evacuation zones of the Fukushima nuclear disaster, although the government of Japan pronounced it safe to resume normal life, some returnees found such a life elusive. To make life possible on their once-abandoned land, they decided to tackle radiation in their own ways. 

How is the city you live in changing? And what does the city of your dreams look like? Recently, cities are undergoing drastic changes on two axes: smart cities and green cities. The new city of Songdo in South Korea offers insights into what is truly needed in the transformation of an Asian city.

Nine years after the Fukushima nuclear disaster, fundamental issues remain unresolved. Many domestic critics saw the Olympics as a ploy to distract from the nuclear disaster. The larger question remains: Should a country with an ongoing nuclear disaster be hosting these games?

South Korea has put forth a “Green New Deal”, whose ambiguous targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and failure to propose a just transition to clean energy make the program unworthy of its name.

The Covid-19 pandemic has spurred radical measures worldwide to stem the spread of the virus, and specialists from different fields have taken up the challenge, working together to solve common problems using new technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI). This momentum is a beacon of hope for the fight against climate change.

The unprecedented Covid-19 pandemic has forced governments around the world to adopt drastic fiscal responses. Moving from relief to stimulus provides an opportunity to avoid carbon-dependent, unjust, and unhealthy investments and to ensure a climate- friendly, and socially and environmentally just recovery.

Covid-19 has shown us the limits of our current socio-economic structure and the neoclassical economics upon which it is based. It is time for the progressive left to put forth a Green New Deal for economic recovery and take on the climate crisis, the economic crisis and the inequalities of our time.

The first plastics imitated ivory and silk and attracted just a limited market. Things took off after World War II with the rise of PVC. Cheap plastics soon conquered the world.