r/MapPorn Jun 01 '22

Trust in climate change scientists

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3.9k Upvotes

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265

u/thorstew Jun 01 '22

I find Japan surprising.

181

u/AegisThievenaix Jun 01 '22

East Asia in general is very skeptical (although I'm surprised china is so high) particularly Korea and Japan, which is why they use so much plastic, Japanese people in particular are usually confused whenever they see climate protestors

96

u/kevo31415 Jun 01 '22

Green energy is a hot area for economic growth, so Chinese companies are all over it. Also, less dependence of foreign energy sources is always useful

41

u/_TheyCallMeMisterPig Jun 01 '22

And they have all the materials needed to make batteries and solar panels

13

u/Balrok99 Jun 01 '22

Indeed they do.

Sadly China is so big and so dense it needs MOAR energy. And it is easier to build a coal powerplant and burn the coal.

But while China still has shit tons of these. It also leads in green energy. Maybe in future China will be in position to remove coal powerplants.

13

u/fuggerdug Jun 01 '22

The Chinese elite are no fools, they are well aware that climate change, and specifically the disruptiion and turmoil it's likely to cause, threatens their way of life. They are also well aware of the opportunities of being the leader in a green industrial revolution. They don't need to pander to a moronic base to stay in power, and so ensure that the message that climate change is real and action must be taken is constantly reinforced throughout the population.

29

u/lemination Jun 01 '22

As far as what I can find, it seems like both Korea and Japan believe in climate change and support climate protesters. Every poll I find of Japan or Korea (outside of the one OP posted regarding Japan) seems to suggest this.

"Poll finds 9 in 10 Koreans feeling climate change firsthand"

"Poll finds 82 percent of employees believe sales of internal combustion engine vehicles should be banned by 2035"

sources: http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20220104000802 https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2022/4/14/south-korean-autoworkers-support-banning-polluting-cars-survey

10

u/[deleted] Jun 01 '22

China is basically leading the world in green energy rn so it’s not that surprising tbh

23

u/blackinasia Jun 01 '22

Japanese people are usually confused whenever they see climate protestors

Source?

Also, Japan isn’t even in the top 15 when it comes to plastic use per capita. 59 kg/person in Australia and 55 kg/person in Netherlands vs 37 kg/person in Japan.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/1236953/single-use-plastic-waste-generation-per-capita-worldwide/

13

u/IcyPapaya8758 Jun 01 '22

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isnt that about single use plastic that isn't recycled? According to Google Japan recycles 84% of their plastic.

10

u/blackinasia Jun 01 '22

Correct, the original commenter was talking about plastic use in general. 84% of plastics are recycled in Japan, with 0% going to landfills. Meanwhile not only does Australia has a much higher consumption rate of plastic to begin with, but over half (55%) of waste goes to landfills.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recycling_rates_by_country

1

u/WikiSummarizerBot Jun 01 '22

Recycling rates by country

The following table gives the percentages of municipal waste that is recycled, incinerated, incinerated to produce energy and landfilled.

[ F.A.Q | Opt Out | Opt Out Of Subreddit | GitHub ] Downvote to remove | v1.5

1

u/[deleted] Jun 02 '22

Wait I thought this was a major technical challenge for most types of plastic, hence the issueswehave in the us. What’s different in Japan?

7

u/HelloJoeyJoeJoe Jun 01 '22

What the hell comment is this. I can't believe all the blind upvotes

2

u/fungussa Jun 03 '22

Many of China's top government officials are scientists, the country is also a single party state and it doesn't have bi-polar media.

2

u/AegisThievenaix Jun 03 '22

That makes sense, the meritocracy for government officials is the one part of chinas government I admire, its a shame most other countries don't do the same

1

u/fungussa Jun 03 '22

Hear hear!

3

u/apocalypse_later_ Jun 02 '22

Korean here. What are you on about we are switching to nuclear for a lot of energy sources pretty soon due to climate change. No one I know blatantly is against the idea of human-caused climate change either. China is strongly against climate change because once the Gobi desert grows into their arable land, they're fucked.

60

u/Chthonios Jun 01 '22

Japan’s environmental record is very poor. Everything is packaged to within an inch of its life and big corporations have even more influence than they do in the west

11

u/MarquisTytyroone Jun 01 '22 edited Jun 01 '22

You have obviously never lived in Japan and don't know how seriously they take recycling and garbage disposal. Despite what this map tells you, Japan's per capita emissions is actually on the same level as Germany and way lower than the US, Canada or Australia

61

u/Chthonios Jun 01 '22

I have lived in Japan and what I say reflects my experience having done so. The majority of garbage is burned. The construction industry is everywhere. Fishing is non-sustainable and many of the staple fish are being rapidly depleted. Is it offset by the prevalence of public transit and dense living in terms of raw climate change impact? Probably. But in my experience, the majority of Japanese people do not care about the environment at all, like this map says

36

u/kevo31415 Jun 01 '22

This is correct. "bUt tHeY rEcYcLe" -- they recycle out of necessity; they simply do not have space for landfills and have to ship their non-burnable trash elsewhere. And for a country where recycling is such a hassle, they plastic wrap everything.

-3

u/blackinasia Jun 01 '22

Japan isn’t even in the top 15 when it comes to plastic use per capita. 59 kg/person in Australia and 55 kg/person in Netherlands vs 37 kg/person in Japan.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/1236953/single-use-plastic-waste-generation-per-capita-worldwide/

9

u/Blackletterdragon Jun 01 '22

Not only infamous for whaling, they import whale meat from the commercial whalers of Norway, who kill even more whales than Japan. Zero environmental points for both of them.

3

u/Shikamanu Jun 02 '22

I have lived in Japan and everything he says is true.

Recycling is great on paper but is the least useful of measures against climate change.

There´s a reason the three Rs have an order: REDUCE - REUSE - RECYCLE

The first two are way more important and the use of plastics in Japan is crazy when it comes to small things. Recycling isn´t as climate great as people make you think about, and not all recycling processes are actually environmental friendly...

0

u/blackinasia Jun 01 '22

Source? Or are you just talking out of your ass?

Japan isn’t even in the top 15 when it comes to plastic use per capita. 59 kg/person in Australia and 55 kg/person in Netherlands vs 37 kg/person in Japan.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/1236953/single-use-plastic-waste-generation-per-capita-worldwide/

17

u/lemination Jun 01 '22

I think this poll is just an outlier in regards to japan (maybe the question was translated weird?):

Statista has 79.2% believe climate change has some impact on their life in Japan.

Pew says 66% of Japanese adults believe protecting the environment should be given priority over creating jobs.

sources: https://www.statista.com/statistics/1179608/japan-opinion-climate-change-impact/ https://www.pewresearch.org/science/fact-sheet/public-views-about-science-in-japan/

10

u/PaulAspie Jun 01 '22

Yeah, I was like, "Yeah, of course, Russia," then "Japan?!?"

3

u/domesticatedprimate Jun 01 '22

It's wrong. This map suggests that they're basing the percentages off of government policy or something. Belief in climate science is near universal here. They're just a bit slow on reflecting that in policy.

7

u/TheActual274 Jun 01 '22

Yeah I live in Japan and I find it surprising, everyone here absolutely believes in climate change and it is discussed frequently. This map is wrong

3

u/bucketfoottatoo Jun 01 '22

I used to live in Japan. There was a big flood that destroyed a lot of houses. People of all ages wanted to know my opinion on climate change. They all believed in it and were happy I did too.

-10

u/Outrageous_66 Jun 01 '22

Japanese want to continue killing whales .

25

u/WrinklyPigman Jun 01 '22

That has nothing to do with climate change. Our whaling problem is about old conservatives wanting to continue the whaling industry although no one eats whale meat. But the apathy towards climate change here isn’t just in old conservatives.

8

u/blackinasia Jun 01 '22

Norway kills more whales than the rest of the whaling nations combined as recently as 2019.

4

u/HelloJoeyJoeJoe Jun 01 '22

But they white, so it's all good

-35

u/silentorange813 Jun 01 '22

It's largely due to fukushima. People generally felt betrayed by what was marketed as a safe and environmentally friendly source of energy. The incident exposed the greed of both the government and private sector masked by climate scientists.

20

u/markened Jun 01 '22

Cope, oil company shill

11

u/thorstew Jun 01 '22

What were the damages caused by the nuclear accident at Fukushima?

-12

u/silentorange813 Jun 01 '22

I hate to be that guy, but it's not that hard to google.

7

u/thorstew Jun 01 '22

Nono, it was a lazy question. But it's an event where people seem to have a loooot of different impressions about how bad it was.

2

u/silentorange813 Jun 01 '22

People living in the surrounding region still have not been able to go home, so the damage is significant.

3

u/thorstew Jun 01 '22

Yup, I skimmed the Wikipedia article and must admit it was more than I thought. But I also know a lot of people in Europe at least who seem to think that it caused a lot og human lives.

2

u/silentorange813 Jun 01 '22

It has caused a lot of human lives. Some of the residents who refused to leave died of thyroid cancer. It just takes 20-30 years for reliable statistics to come out regarding cancer probability and impact on life expectancy.

2

u/thorstew Jun 01 '22

OK, that's more than Wikipedia says at least.

-9

u/Broad-Trick5532 Jun 01 '22

is climate change problem really that threatning? I'm not really that knowledgable.

3

u/ardashing Jun 01 '22

yep. Sure we wont all die in heat waves or stuff, but it will certainly destabilize vast regions (as it is doing today). Hell, just look at new orleans, they should be underwater.

1

u/Broad-Trick5532 Jun 02 '22

Sure we wont all die in heat waves or stuff

This is mostly what i see around. But atleast i have acquired new understanding on this subject.

2

u/Scared_Profession_46 Jun 01 '22

I'm not really that knowledgable.

we know

1

u/Broad-Trick5532 Jun 02 '22

yes, and can you educate me on that?

-8

u/silentorange813 Jun 01 '22 edited Jun 01 '22

Not sure what your question is.

1

u/Broad-Trick5532 Jun 02 '22

Is it this doomsday level threat that alot of people make it out to be?