A questionnaire survey was conducted on changes in work and commuting conditions in the COVID-19 situation were surveyed with respect to teleworking, which is expected to reduce environmental impact. ...Respondents with telework experience in 2020 were sampled in Tokyo, which is highly rail-dependent area, and in Tochigi, which is highly car-dependent area.Even during the period of maximum telework, there were few teleworkers who completely teleworked from home or used satellite offices, and many teleworkers worked in combining office work and home. The trend of continuous teleworkers in Tokyo was that many of them were in their 40 s, worked in the information and telecommunications industry, and had a long commuting time. Furthermore, a high percentage of them rearranged furniture or purchased new furniture for telecommuting. On the other hand, women and those in the education industry were the most frequent users only during the emergency declaration period.In Tochigi, where the environmental burden of commuting is high due mainly to the use of automobiles, the frequency of commuting to work was high during telework period and the environmental burden associated with commuting resumed as well, as the employees returned to their traditional work style in November 2020 when the COVID-19 disaster subsided somewhat.
In the urban—rural fringe of the Bangkok Metropolitan Region, rapid urbanization is creating a land-use mixture of agricultural fields and residential areas. To develop appropriate policies to ...enhance recycling of municipal solid waste (MSW), current MSW management was investigated in the oboto (local administrative district) of Bang Maenang in Nonthaburi Province, adjoining Bangkok. The authors conducted a structural interview survey with waste-related organizations and local residents, analysed household waste generation, and performed global positioning system (GPS) tracking of municipal garbage trucks. It was found that MSW was collected and treated by local government, private-sector entities, and the local community separately. Lack of integrated management of these entities complicated waste flow in the study area, and some residences were not served by MSW collection. Organic waste, such as kitchen garbage and yard waste, accounted for a large proportion of waste generation but was underutilized. Through GPS/GIS analysis, the waste collection rate of the generated waste amount was estimated to be 45.5— 51.1% of total generation.
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NUK, OILJ, SAZU, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
In recent decades there has been a growing awareness of how intricate the interactions are between human beings and the environment. Fortunately, progress has been made in understanding this ...relationship, and new technologies have been effective in addressing environmental problems. However belatedly, there has been an acknowledgment of the incompatibility of the world`s finite resources with humankind`s increasingly greater needs for them, and of how such a challenge demands broadened collaboration among engineers, social scientists, politicians and financial powers. Global agreement that the essential issues of the twenty-first century cannot be solved by any one discipline has led to the concept of sustainability. The transdisciplinary contributions selected for inclusion in this book address these concerns with an overview of the diverse fields of study related to sustainability. This collection of work is intended to pave the way for further collaboration among scientists and nations as well.
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FIS, FZAB, GEOZS, GIS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, MFDPS, NUK, OBVAL, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, SBMB, SBNM, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK, VKSCE, ZAGLJ
Throughout Asia, rapid and uncontrolled urbanization has created serious environmental problems, and the development of sustainable urban–rural planning methods is of critical importance. To improve ...our understanding of mixed urban–rural land uses and provide future practical visions for regional planning, we conducted a case study of the urban fringe of the Bangkok Metropolitan Region, Thailand. After identifying local irrigation districts as the basic spatial unit for resource circulation, we quantified current material flows of organic wastes generated by households within each district. We then developed two different land-use scenarios for 2020: (1) a high-rise compact and (2) a low-story sprawl development scenario. These scenarios were compared in terms of efficiency of material flows and energy consumption. We found that, based on current infrastructure and technology, the latter scenario was more advantageous in terms of both material input and energy consumption than the former, thereby, identifying positive aspects of urban–rural land-use mixture. Based on these results, we propose that planners should focus on density control measures that take into account bioresource circulation within irrigation districts rather than simply drawing arbitrary land-use zoning lines. To this end, we suggest that the division between agricultural and urban planning departments must be bridged, and that research should take an interdisciplinary approach.
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CEKLJ, EMUNI, FIS, FZAB, GEOZS, GIS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, MFDPS, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, SBMB, SBNM, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK, VKSCE, ZAGLJ
It is easy to get lost in the vast amount of knowledge that is currently produced. In this study, to get a comprehensive picture of current scientific knowledge about global warming issues, we ...developed a mapping framework for global warming research based on the relationships between nature and human society. The mapping includes seven phases: (1) socioeconomic activity and greenhouse gas emissions, (2) carbon cycle and carbon concentration, (3) climate change and global warming, (4) impacts on ecosystems and human society, (5) adaptation, (6) mitigation, and (7) social systems. We applied the findings of the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Fourth Assessment Report
to the mapping. The quantity of research results and their reliability were analyzed on the basis of expert judgment to better understand the extent to which current scientific knowledge provides answers to society’s major concerns. The quantity and reliability of answers have increased in phases 2 and 3 relative to research in the
Third Assessment Report
. Although a large quantity of results have been produced in phases 4 and 6, they are not always sufficient. More studies are required in phases 1, 5, and 7, and the reliability of existing knowledge needs to be improved in these phases. Mapping global warming issues enabled us to visually comprehend the numerous and varied parts of global warming research as a whole and to discern gaps in knowledge and other research shortfalls.
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CEKLJ, EMUNI, FIS, FZAB, GEOZS, GIS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, MFDPS, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, SBMB, SBNM, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK, VKSCE, ZAGLJ
The environmental purchase behaviors were analyzed through a questionnaire survey under the electricity shortage condition caused by the Great East Japan Earthquake. Besides, people were categorized ...based on the reasons why they do or do not conduct the behaviors. The questionnaire survey was conducted in Kanto area, Osaka city, and Hiroshima city. The relationships between the behaviors and the socio-demographics were also evaluated. It was revealed that power-saving equipments were widely purchased after the earthquake. For most of the equipments, women and elder people showed higher purchase levels, whereas people who live in urban areas like Tokyo and Osaka showed lower levels. The respondents were categorized into 7 groups and the respondents who are highly concerned with environmental issues showed the highest behavior level. On the other hand, the people who value the economic aspects and the people who conduct the behaviors based on their customs showed fluctuated results. For the low behavior level respondents, two groups were identified: no-feasibility group and the others.
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