The Japanese government’s nuclear safety agency has rated the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant in the aftermath of the 3/11 earthquake and tsunami as a level 7 nuclear event, the highest rating for such an event. It had previously been rated by the government as a level 5 event, despite several international experts [...]

The Wall Street Journal reported the other day that the Toyota Prius hybrid will this year become the best selling model in a calendar year, beating out the 20 year record of the Toyota Corolla. The Corolla marked 300,008 vehicles in sales in 1990, and so far this year (to November) the Prius has already [...]

I want to start this by saying that I haven’t followed the mass of media (mostly outside of Japan) about “The Cove” particularly closely, and nor have I seen the documentary. But I have seen enough to know the broad strokes, and what I wanted to say is more about general ideas anyway, so I [...]

With many of the world’s scientists and politicians converging on Copenhagen this week, this is an important time for the people of the world to carefully consider the issues related to ‘climate change’.
For a start, I really don’t like that term. It is as undescriptive as the term ‘global warming’. Indeed, the climate has always [...]

The government is deep in debate over when (and not if) to introduce the so-called ‘green tax’, aimed at reducing ‘greenhouse gas emissions’. But it seems clear that the debate is really about whether or not they will try to fool the public.

Early next year, a provisional tax surcharge (more wonderful political-speak) on gasoline and [...]

Australia’s booming resource sector continues to power ahead, with news that several massive LNG fields will be developed, including a gas field known as Gorgon which will begin construction within weeks. Australia exports much of its resources to Asia, with Japan accounting for 20% of the country’s A$200 billion or [...]

Here is a link to the prepared remarks of Prime Minister Hatoyama, which he delivered at the United Nations Summit on Climate Change:

Statement by Prime Minister Hatoyama

Occassionaly a world leader will stand up and make a speech which truly moves you. This was not such a speech… It is [...]

In a classic case of giving with one hand and taking with the other, or perhaps, the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism has calculated that the abolishment expressway tolls as promised by the DPJ before the election would lead to an increase [...]

A few days ago, I posted about the plans of the incoming Hatoyama government to cut ‘greenhouse emissions’ by 25% over 1990 levels. By the way, I put ‘greenhouse emissions’ in inverted commas because this is a strange term that doesn’t really mean anything… Greenhouse emissions are a natural part of the [...]

Prime Minister to be, Hatoyama Yukio today again mentioned his ‘Hatoyama Initiative’ to be detailed at the UN later this month, which includes ambitious targets for environmental reform, including cuts in ‘emissions’ of 25% from 1990 levels by 2020. This is the same target that was included in the DPJ’s Bill [...]