Wearing a T-shirt is Environmentalism

Japan vetoes suits in summer heat
By Jonathan Head
BBC News, Tokyo

A wave of informality is due to sweep through Japan with a government campaign to persuade office workers to abandon their jackets and ties.

Offices are being asked to cut back on air conditioning this summer.

Temperatures and humidity rise to unbearable levels over the next three months in Japan's cities and so does the use of air conditioning.

The government thinks this is standing in the way of lowering its emissions of greenhouse gases.

Well, I'm not sure that turning off the A/C is what's keeping Japan from making it's Kyoto commitments - hint: It's spelled T-O-Y-O-T-A, among others. But there's a wider point here - a lot of environmentalism is the small stuff. Wearing a t-shirt. Riding a bike. Buy a reusable water bottle and a Brita filter instead of buying a Dasani bottle every day. (I love my Nalgene bottle.) If your definition of environmentalism is waiting for the perfect Hybrid car or cheap, plentiful solar power, we'll never make it. I'll be the first to crack open a bottle of organic champagne when Ford puts a fuel-cell car in to mass-production, but I'll still ride my bike and ride the bus. When you consider that 10% of our electricity goes to lighting, maybe you'll be more careful to turn out that light in the other room, right?

Environmentalism is easy, and all it takes is a bit of thought.