ARTICLE: Aren't We Contributing to the Global Environmental Problems?

Aren't We Contributing to the Global Environmental Problems?

In this country of ours, everyone knows that there has been a transition from a focus on individual problems to a broad emphasis on preserving the global environment. That is because, from comparatively localized problems of pollution, environmental problems which must be dealt with on an "earth-wide" scale have arisen as a more important issue.

The "global environment problem" includes: depletion of the ozone layer, global warming, acid rain, deforestation (destruction of tropical rainforests), land becoming desert-like, ocean pollution, pollution in developing countries, transportation of hazardous waste across borders, extinction of wildlife species, etc. The "global environment problem" is characterized by a larger scale in terms of both space and time-regarding the latter, its effect may extend across generations-and by the increasing complexity of cause and effect. Thus, its character is quite different from local environmental problems such as pollution.

Along with researching the global environment problem and proceeding with study of countermeasures, the relationship with the activities of companies has become more and more clear. Due to the nature of the global environment problem, the faster countermeasures can be implemented, the more effective they will be. In Japan, due to efforts on the government side, recently, a variety of countermeasures have become law in quick succession.

One major example is work to halt depletion of the ozone layer by stopping the manufacture and use of certain freons and undertaking measures to recover freon from existing products. Likewise, to arrest global warming, emission restraints on carbon dioxide, methane, sulfurhexafluoride, etc. are necessary.