Outdoor Japan Article
Have you ever seen a polar bear drown from lack of habitat? Or been on a South Pacific atoll that is slowly being swallowed up by the ocean? Me neither. The more drastic effects of Global Warming are usually not that conspicuous to us living in the industrialized world. However, if you are in agreement with the majority of scientists regarding the issue, you probably feel that it is our species that is playing a pivotal role in this change of climate.
So what is there to do? How can people be motivated to change and adopt greener habits? Fear is a pretty good motivator, but love is not too shabby either. So in Nagano city on February 24th, a group called Kusa Yaro! tried to make use of both, and give skiers and snowboarders a reason to start thinking about how we are affecting our own snow seasons.
The event was called “Ondanka Wa Teki Da!” (Global Warming is the Enemy) and was aimed at winter sports enthusiasts. It was meant to draw the parallel between how we in the First World live, and how it affects our snow seasons. The past few seasons have seen wildly fluctuating snowfall, and it appears that worldwide weather patters are becoming increasingly unstable.
Of course, using snowfall as a reason to live greener is pretty selfish, I admit., The effects of global warming range from pine beetle epidemics in Canada to unusually fierce storms in the tropics and they affect the lives of millions. But snowboarders can be pretty dense. We have to take baby steps here. I figured that even they could grasp the significance of the dismally low snowfall we have had this season.
After a half-hearted attempt to poster every snowboard shop between Karuizawa and Hakuba, as well as a total of 3 postings on Mixi, the fruit of our labors were made visible at the event.
12 people showed up.
Not to be intimidated by our own shortcomings, the event went full speed ahead. First off was a screening of a 2006 snowboard documentary called Bikecar. It details the story of 3 pro snowboarders who build their own pedal-powered vehicle, and then set off on a 1300 km adventure to ride at various northwest American ski areas. The movie did not contain any significant environmental message, but the light mood and humor of the film was enjoyed by all present.
Not one kill a good vibe, I decided to forgo the tedious speech I had planned, as I knew almost everyone in attendance and it would have been preaching to the converted.
After a few obligatory statements in Japanese and English about the state of our current snow season, and an urge for people to look at their own contribution to pollution, there was a prize giveaway. Several organizations were very generous in helping with the event, and there were sunglasses, lift tickets, and biodegradable snowboard wax handed out. There was discussion of a karaoke contest afterwards, but some of the audience had bothered to come from places like Hakuba and Gunma, and needed to return.
If you are interested in reducing your own contribution to climate change, and have somehow missed the plethora of information on what to do, here are some handy tips taken from the event’s pamphlet.
1- Get out into nature. Connect with her. See just how important she is in all of our lives, and enjoy being with her. Because we won’t save what we don’t love.
2- I know they are cute, but give your Morning Musume bootleg DVD a rest and read a book about Global warming. Get informed. There is a ton of information on the internet as well. Go watch An Inconvenient Truth (Futsugouna Shinjitsu in Japanese) .
3- We live in a consumer society that encourages waste. We have to become smarter consumers. Buy less, and re-use/recycle/repair what you already have. When you do buy, try to support green products and companies.
4- Stop farting. In terms of the greenhouse effect, methane is 22 times as powerful as CO2.
5- Use your car less. Japan has an amazing rail system, take advantage of it. Or ride a bike once in a while. If you really must use the car, make sure it is running as efficiently as possible (properly inflated tires, tuned engine, no extra luggage, car pooling, all that jazz). Anyone skier or snowboarder who idles their car at 7-11 while looking at your magazines printed on old-growth forest is going to snow-sport hell (where you will be forced to teach Jr High students how to funski on ice at an indoor resort).
6- Eat less meat. Raising an animal takes up a tremendous amount of resources, including gasoline. Plus they fart. Eat locally grown and/or organic produce whenever possible.
7- Risk confusing the hell out of everyone around you and refuse such wasteful ‘conveniences’ like chopsticks and plastic bags. You will become very good at repeating ‘No thank you, I really don’t need one’ to cash register clerks.
Sure, doing these things alone can be pretty lonely and frustrating sometimes. But someone needs to start doing it. And if not you, then who?
Ben Gibson is a snowboarder and current world-record holder for being a single white dude in Japan. He currently lives at the foot of Mt Asama in Nagano.
