Chapter 4 Birth of Setsuden-mushi (a profitmaking device) 4.4 COP3 (Kyoto Conference on Global Warming Prevention) 4.4.1 Phone call from the Asahi Shimbun
The first "Earth Summit" (United Nations Conference on Environment and Development) was held in 1992, where the leaders of the world gathered to show their commitment to confront the global environmental crisis under the slogan of "sustainable development. Since then, however, the destruction of tropical rainforests, global acid rain damage, and the urban environments of developing countries have become increasingly serious.
The global crisis is also typified by global warming. In December 1997, the Third Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the Kyoto Conference on Climate Change (COP3), was held in Kyoto, Japan, to set targets for controlling carbon dioxide, the cause of global warming. In 2000, COP6 was held in The Hague, the Netherlands. This conference has been held many times since then.
In mid-May, about half a year before the Kyoto Conference on Prevention of Global Warming (COP3) in December 1997, I received a phone call from Mr. Haruhisa Isoda, a reporter from the Social Affairs Department of the Osaka Head Office of the Asahi Shimbun, who wished to visit my company.
The purpose of Mr. Isoda's visit to me was to learn from me about Setsuden-mushi, which was developed by my small private company and received the Energy Conservation Center Chairman's Award on January 29, 1997 along with other major home appliance manufacturers, as mentioned above, as well as its development concept and background.
About a week later, on May 22 1997, in response to reporter Isoda's questions, I answered the followings
(1) The background to the development of the Setsuden-mushi prototype in terms of time, and
(2) My thoughts on electricity consumption by fax machines and other communication devices 24 hours a day.
(3) My personal history, and
(4) Results of the standby electricity consumption saving test for fax machines, and
(5) How to make energy conservation effective
I told him on the above for about two hours at my office.
In preparation for the Kyoto Conference on the Prevention of Global Warming (COP3) to be held in December 1997, the Asahi Shimbun published the results of interviews and detailed surveys from a wide range of organizations and individuals, including this interview with me. It was published as a four-page special feature on energy and the environment on June 19 in Western Japan and June 22 in Eastern Japan. (https://1drv.ms/u/s!Ai_aaa4f_vZzgwuuRIBkhDn3QJFT?e=nHsTpJ)
The title of the Asahi Shimbun's special report at that time was "Energy-satiated Archipelago," with the subtitle "How to deal with the car society? How can we use electricity better? and "How to reduce CO2 emissions". It was a sharp warning against our current attitude of energy consumption.
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