Dec 10, 2021
Climate Goals
Two modest ways to fight against global warming in local Tokyo
A month ago, the COP26 climate summit ended with a disappointment with no clear path to set a strategic course of direction. The only thing left behind is talk without any specific action. Everyone knows that the planet is going to get warmer for the next 100 years. At least 80 years to be precise to say it. The focus on talk is the goal to achieve. What are their goals?
A brief episode describes four demanding goals of climate targets below the preindustrial averages: 1.5, 2.0, 2.4, and 2.7 degrees. The first two are extremely demanding and therefore unrealistic. No one believes that these targets are achieved by the participating nations, especially those serious greenhouse gas emitters such as China, India, and Russia don’t sign up the pledges to reduce the emissions. The plant keeps its course to be warmer.
The astonishing numbers disappointed a lot of advocates to fight against the climate change. The 2.4 degrees rise is described as a modest improvement. The even devastating estimate unveiled the realistic target of roughly 2.7 degrees above the preindustrial record. This figure explains the future of more floods and suffering from heat among ordinary people like me in Tokyo.
In Tokyo, as many Tokyoites conform to agree, the summer season has already been altered on calendar. In early May, the temperature would hit 28 degrees (82F) and continue to rise at 30 (86F) toward July. From July to September, Tokyoites need to confine themselves in the house with the temperature above 31 (88F) .The figure event really turns plateau but the remains until the beginning of October.
So I won’t be surprised that the summer season begins in May and ends in October. What do ordinals people can do in 6-month duration of hot weather? Your writer, a winter person, can suggest two modest transformations: physical body and work routine.
As for a body, Tokyoites need to adapt the long and hot summer by changing the adaptation to the temperature. Lose the weight by 3 kg (6 pounds) by the beginning of hot summer, July. Loss of weight comes from two habits, eating less and doing exercise. If you were 65kg (143 pounds), you want to lose 3 kg to cut fat on the stomach. In my experience, the thinner the better in the hot conditions.
As the winter is approaching, you need to gain weights back to the best fit by eating more food and drinks, which is easy for most people, for two months until November. The fatter the better in the chilly weather. The winter continues to the end of April as it sometimes snows in the suburbs.
A lot of people go to downtown Tokyo to work even under the pandemic. The Japanese corporations don’t let employees to work from home. Most urban dwellers got vaccinated with 77% of the population (126m) by two shots. Without masks on the streets, the non-conformists are regarded as socially defects among collective oriented citizens. Infection is utterly a fatal at workplaces.
But a winter person like me suffers from hot weather. So my suggestion is that people in Tokyo work less time for less money. Underperformance is inevitable because at the workplace the administrative office turn off the air conditioner at 18:00 in the evening. It is very hard to work above 28 degrees (82F) at night.
The disappointing summit may continue to cast the news for unrealistic goals of climate change. But people have to live and work in Tokyo. It is time to let the high-level confusing targets go by and set the realistic personal goals to survive the disastrous conditions.
For American people, Japan will be in aligned with U.S. foreign policy. But please note that the ordinary life and work will be shifting to the deadly 6-months summer season from May to October with minimal use of air conditioning.
