Japanese government is also urging private and corporate research institutes to develop nuclear, solar, and geothermal energy sources—clean energy that will not produce greenhouse gases or acid rain—and to develop substitutes for CFC refrigerants and detergents that will avoid the destruction of the ozone layer. Foreign nations are pressuring Japan to ban CFCs as they have done; Japan will surely follow suit as soon as its industries find suitable substitutes. Here again we find that in financial and industrial circles the profit motive still exceeds concern for the environment.
There are hopeful developments on the horizon. One promising product is biodegradable plastic, manufactured by microorganisms from organic matter. When disposed of in water or soil, it readily biodegrades and releases no toxic residues. Biodegradable plastic will soon be used for everything from wrapping paper to fishing nets. At last, technology at the end of this century has begun to work to save our green planet from the destruction of the environment that we brought upon ourselves.
Compared to the six billion people in the world, very few people are even aware of, much less engaged in this movement. Besides, there is a limit to what technology can do to improve the natural environment. It is impossible to rejuvenate nature completely by technology alone. What else can we do?
Start With an Appreciation of Nature
Humans cannot live without nature. Therefore we should respect nature and treat it considerately. In a sense, the idea of saving the earth is itself a human conceit. The earth has enabled us to stay alive. It has given us air to breathe, food to eat, clothes to wear, places to live, the warmth of the daytime and the peace of night, and it has absorbed our waste.
Can we save this earth? What we must save first is not the earth; it is our hearts and minds that have forgotten how precious the natural environment really is. We are losing our beautiful natural environment because we failed to appreciate it, following only our desires for material comfort, blind to the long-range consequences of our choices of lifestyles.
In our medieval ignorance, the earth looked so limitless that it could never be polluted. Today, we know better and have no further excuse for polluting it. We must realize how wrong we had been. We must admit that we have forgotten to respect and appreciate nature.
How can we appreciate nature? The answer is simple. We should begin by admiring nature. Pausing for a moment to let ourselves be impressed by the beauty of the trees and flowers is one way. Realizing how delicious our food is and all the natural processes that went into making it is another. When we admire things, we feel refreshed. To retain this feeling, we must practice morality.
Morality includes respecting nature as it is. When we live conscious of our indebtedness to and dependence upon nature, our mode of living turns into an appreciation of nature. If we live in this way, we would never waste resources nor discard poisons into the natural environment.
The Japanese of old planted two saplings whenever they cut down one tree. They knew that giving nothing in return to nature was foolish and sinful. Fishermen and hunters limited their take so that there would always be adequate fish and game in future seasons.
Our efforts to purify the polluted earth by higher levels of technology are certainly significant. However, it is even more important that we put our hearts in tune with nature. We should listen to the cries of the earth. Nature is greater than humanity; it lived in harmony for billions of years before the rise of human civilizations. The beauty of nature, the sophisticated mechanisms of the bodies of living creatures, the mysteries of the death and birth of life—we humans have no chance to feel conceited when we contemplate the sublimity and grandeur of any aspect of nature.
If we appreciate nature, we will naturally act on this appreciation. We shall no longer discard trash without thinking of its effects on the environment. We shall choose to consume less and be willing to spend more for products that protect nature than for those that ultimately injure it. We shall bear hotter or colder conditions, walk more and drive less, rise with the sun and avoid using electricity needlessly. We shall become aware that each time we hit an electric switch we are affecting the fate of the environment, and that each time we buy a commodity we are sending a message to manufacturers, packagers, and distributors about the kinds of materials we are willing to dump upon nature. In turn, nature will recompense our appreciation. Nature will respond to the decisions of the human heart, as we act them out in our lives of consumption or conservation.
If the six billion people living on the earth can realize this, our lives of thoughtful appreciation for nature will surely restore the earth close to its former beautiful balance.
Depletion of Natural Resources
Japan's Dilemmas
In the Shinjuku viaducts of Tokyo there are groups of homeless people called "Kings of the Underground." They are called kings because day and night they drink premium whisky and brandy and eat the scraps of extravagant meals that even a hardworking businessman can rarely afford. For every night, the classiest restaurants in Tokyo throw away mountains of delicacies which their patrons did not finish.
We tend to look down on the poor homeless souls who rummage about for uneaten food and half-drunk bottles discarded by expensive eateries. Thinking ethically, however, we feel a heartsick anger when seeing this situation. If we think nothing of trashing mountains of gourmet food every night, we face the hell of spiritual decay in the near future.
The waste and decadence of the Japanese nowadays goes far beyond this. Truckloads of fresh foods left unsold at supermarkets and department stores are carted away as refuse every day. This "garbage" contains not only fresh fish, meat, and produce, but also processed foods like bread, cakes, and delicatessen dishes. To attract customers, each store manufactures and displays a wide variety of products, and if it sells enough of them to make a profit, it trashes the remainder and writes it off as an operating expense.
Even in private homes, people constantly replace older foods languishing in their refrigerators with newer purchases. City sanitation engineers report that many families stuff food still fresh enough to eat into garbage bags.
It is not only food that people waste. When we look into our desks, closets, bookshelves, or chests, we may find unused pens or pencils, goods we bought on a whim but never opened, and dusty gifts whose colors have faded. Some people throw away notebooks and binders without using them. Designs of stationery change quickly in Japan, and even if we want to buy the same type, we may find it is no longer stocked. As a result, people waste money in order to keep up with the fashion.
The waste of unrecycled paper in Japan, especially from copy machines, defies imagination. However, foreigners are most surprised to find that vacant lots in the suburbs are swamped with disorderly mounds of working televisions, still serviceable electric appliances, computers, and used cars. From food and daily necessities to consumer durables such as furniture and cars, it were almost as if Japanese companies manufactured products merely for the purpose of throwing them away. This is conspicuous consumption and planned obsolescence.
Acre per acre of land, Japan's consumption of energy and raw materials is the highest in the world. Considering that almost all of its fuel and raw materials are imported, it becomes painfully evident that Japan is wasting the world's resources. Worse yet, Japanese are wasting not only those material resources but also the time, labor, and energy used to mine, transport, process, and package those resources, and the minds and lives of all the people who engage in all those processes. In short, we Japanese are wasting not only matter and energy but also time and intelligence. We are not only exhausting the limited resources of the planet and damaging the natural environment when we discard them, but wasting the lives and minds of millions of people in our employ.
It is high time to contemplate the present state of food, raw materials,
