In the previous columns, I took up the issues of "insufficient energy resources, water, and food", "use and disposal of radioactive materials", and "rapid warming" as the most important issues, and summarized the information for each. ..

This time, I would like to organize the measures for each of these important environmental problems.

● Countermeasures for important environmental problems and their effects

The table below lists the main possible countermeasures. Each item of the three major environmental problems is taken horizontally, the main possible measures for environmental problems are arranged vertically, and what kind of effect each measure has on which item is summarized.

(Explanation of symbols)

• ◎ Very effective ○ Effective △ Slightly effective × Is there the opposite effect? I don't know what kind of effect or effect it will have. -It seems that there is almost no impact.

(Explanation of evaluation)

1. 1. We considered "expansion of utilization of each energy resource (nuclear power, coal, natural gas, solar power, wind power, hydropower)" based on the following criteria.

Effect on "rapid warming" "×" for those that generate more CO2 than oil when used as a substitute for petroleum, and "○" for those that generate about 10% to 30% lower , "◎" can be reduced to 1/5 or less.
reference: Column "9. Utilization and disposal of radioactive materials" Graph of "How much can CO2 generation be suppressed by nuclear power generation?"
Effect on "insufficient energy resources" The amount of resources is "△" for a fraction of the current proved reserves of petroleum, and about the same to three times as much. "○" for, and "◎" for those that are considered to be 5 times or more.
reference: Column "8. Insufficient energy resources" "How much energy resources are left?"

2. 2. About "biofuel"

Since there are various ways of thinking whether increasing CO2 generation will reduce or increase CO2 generation by increasing biofuel, I chose "?".

3. 3. About "Abolition of export restrictions on agricultural products"

Some agricultural exporters have export restrictions in order not to cause food shortages in the country. This further accelerates the world's food shortages. Eliminating this export restriction will alleviate food shortages worldwide, but it may lead to food shortages or soaring prices in the domestic agricultural exporters that have abolished the export restrictions. Is high, so I chose "○ / ×".

4. About "conversion from meat eating to vegetarian eating"

Beef production requires a large amount of grain, which in turn requires a large amount of water. Therefore, by increasing the vegetarian diet from meat, food shortages and water shortages can be alleviated. The effect of is "△ ～ ○".

5. About "alleviation of poverty problem"

The poor people, especially in Africa and Asia, are the most affected and life-threatening by rising prices due to lack of water, food and energy resources. In that sense, if this "alleviation of the poverty problem" can be realized, the resource depletion itself will not disappear, but it is thought that the damage caused by the resource depletion can be considerably suppressed. In that sense, "△ ～ ○" is used as a countermeasure against resource depletion.

● Summary of measures for environmental problems

1. Measures to proceed immediately

As a countermeasure for important environmental problems, I think that various countermeasures should be taken in parallel without relying on one countermeasure.

2. 2. Measures to prevent damage

It seems that the poor people in the world are the first to suffer the greatest damage due to global environmental problems centered on resource shortages.

3. 3. Fundamental long-term measures

There are two fundamental and countermeasures for environmental problems.
(1) Population control
(2) Controlling per capita consumption resources
Conversely, "explosive increase in population" and "explosive increase in per capita resource consumption" are the essential causes of environmental problems.

Next time, I will introduce the idea of "factor 4" as a way of thinking to solve environmental problems such as resource depletion while further improving the affluence of the world and solving the problem of poverty.

January 15, 2009 Hironobu Matsui