第48回 全国大会結果

大学の部 3位
大川 夏海(立命館大学)

Your Action Can Save Our Future

 When I wake up in the morning, I open my room's window. Birds are chirping, announcing the sunrise in the morning. The wind that carries their soft sounds, make tree branches wiggle and leaves waver. I breath in that wind, which carries the smell of nature, and enjoy the mighty view of the mountains under the blue sky. This is Kyoto, a city full of greenery, carrying the Japanese culture and history since ancient history. This ex-capital of Japan has a calm landscape, especially for a modern city with advanced urbanization. It has a river with clean water flowing, perfect for a relaxing moment. I love Kyoto, the beautiful city where I can feel that nature becomes part of my daily life.
 This city is still being protected to keep its green. Other places at our planet are not so lucky, however. Year by year, beautiful nature is being destroyed. Things such as persistent use of fossil fuel, mass production and waste of resources put a burden on our ecosystems. And the worst of it? This destruction is being accelerated. Population is expected to keep increasing until 2100. With population growth going out of control, more urbanization will happen. For a society, to keep up with the increasing population, its infrastructure, with its roads, bridges and buildings, have to be expanded.
 Unfortunately, if the present trend continues, the massive mining for cement, a major component for buildings, and wood, important in urbanization, will destroy forests and mountains. The soil and toxic mineral erosion will pollute the rivers among others, leading to the destruction of the ecosystem.
 One day, my Chinese friend said, "I don't want to suffer from air pollution anymore". Sometimes, when she goes out from her house, she has to wear a mask to protect herself from endocrine disruptors. Also, she cannot see much due to smog. Air pollution is caused by mass production and mass consumption in her society. China, as a country with a population of more than 1.3 billion, companies are focusing on customer needs, they tend to pursue especially for economic benefit without ecofriendly aspect. Because the ownership of cars is also high, much exhaust gas is released into the air. When I heard the story from my friend, I thought strongly, we cannot ignore the things happening in our world. Because, I don't want my friends to suffer. I want to resolve the environmental issues for the people that I love.
 A good effort being made is for example the Paris Agreement on 2015, which tries to address environmental issues at a global level, stating that each country should set its own voluntary goals for global warming prevention. It's good that governments have started with counter measurements, however, over the past 50 years, governments and United Nations have been working on solving environmental problems, but, looking at the current situation, this seems not to be enough to stop environmental destruction. At the individual level we also need to help.
 I am currently researching on "sustainable environmental development" at my university. I visited 9 countries in both Western Europe and the Asian region, and I saw how people all over the world face environmental issues and what actions are being taken. I think that the current social behavior tend to pursue mostly social status.
Maybe this is due to low environmental awareness by people, I thought. For this reason, I gave a questionnaire about environmental consciousness to people of all ages of 5 countries, including Japanese.
 The results show that we are casually conscious of everyday consumption behavior such as product selection, price, brand name, design or convenience. However, the majority is not considering about whether products are good for the environment or not. There is an initiative in Germany and Sweden, countries regarded as environmentally advanced. They visualize the burden on the environmental and introduce environmental impact measurement systems, such as the Carbon Footprint, that shows the amount of carbon dioxide emitted per product for consumer goods.
 What I would like to tell you is ... Nothing will be solved unless everyone on the planet sees environmental issues as part of their own problems. What you can be conscious of, from today as a first step, is to focus on what you choose when you consume something, it' very simple. Eco Mark products are expressing that what you're buying is environmentally-friendly produced and processed.
 I'm so happy that I can live in beautiful nature so far. But I also want to be able to share how it is now with my future children and grandchildren spanning over 100 years or more. So, I would like to tell you, as a global citizen, for the people that are currently suffering from environmental pollution and for our future generation, let's understand the current situation of environmental problems correctly. Let's start to take action together from today with the environment in our mind. Your actions will eventually change the world. Now, it's time to save our future.