Anti-Japan Newspaper Ad Parodies Miyazaki Film
ANN reports that a group called TckTckTck recently ran the following full page ad in the Financial Times:
Together with our partners at Avaaz, TckTckTck sponsored an advertisement in the Friday edition of the Financial Times identifying Japan as the main blocker of progress toward a fair, ambitious and binding climate treaty at UN climate talks concluding tomorrow.
The ad parodies an iconic poster for “Spirited Away”, the country’s all-time highest-grossing film and is being published in the international editions of the Financial Times, reaching a large readership around the world, including in Japan. 1000 copies of the newspaper are being distributed at the conference venues Cancun Messe and Moon Palace.
“Time is running out for negotiators in Cancun to agree a package of decisions that would give us a basis for a strong climate treaty next year in Durban, and Japan’s hard line position is putting the entire conference at risk”, said Paul Horsman, TckTckTck Campaign Director.
“Millions of people around the world are getting on with taking action on climate change. Japan needs to become part of this and help ensure the survival of people and ecosystems, while realising that a strong climate deal also benefits their own economic development. The country that gave birth to the Kyoto Protocol should not become the one that killed it”, added Horsman.
Sadly, their anger about who caused the death of Kyoto is woefully misplaced. Japan isn’t opposing an extension of the protocol because it doesn’t believe in reducing carbon emissions. It’s opposing the extension because the Kyoto Protocol is useless in its current form:
An extension of the Kyoto Protocol “does not serve our national interest nor does it rescue the globe from global warming,” foreign ministry official Shinsuke Sugiyama told reporters.
“Some criticized us as trying to destroy negotiations,” he said. “But I believe by the end our position has been better understood by the parties concerned and the people concerned, even if not 100 percent agreed.”
Japan argues that the treaty named after its ancient capital is unfair because it does not include 70 percent of the world’s emissions, with top polluters China and the United States absent.
The red dots in this graph represent countries that are not members of the Kyoto Protocol system:
Keeping the Protocol alive in its current form achieves nothing. The world’s top carbon emitters absolutely refuse to become members, and any cuts Japan and other countries agree to within the Kyoto system will meaninglessly small compared to the huge increases that will come out of countries like China.
Why waste money on ads that rip on Japan for wanting to replace the broken Kyoto system with a better agreement? If NGO’s believe something needs to be done about carbon emissions, they should work on getting a system in place that would requiring cuts from everyone, especially top emitters like China, the United States, India, and Brazil.
Note: The Cancun conference ended with a weak and general agreement that isn’t legally binding. The final decision on whether or not to continue the Kyoto system will be put off until next year.
[hat tip to Kela]
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