Acid Rain Science and Politics in Japan is a pioneering work in environmental and Asian history as well as an in-depth analysis of the influence of science on domestic and international environmental politics. Kenneth Wilkening's study also illuminates the global struggle to create sustainable societies. The Meiji Restoration of 1868 ended Japan's era of isolation- created self-sufficiency and sustainability. The opening of the country to Western ideas and technology not only brought pollution problems associated with industrialization (including acid rain) but also scientific techniques for understanding and combating them. Wilkening identifies three pollution-related "sustainability crises" in modern Japanese history: copper mining in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, which spurred Japan's first acid rain research and policy initiatives; horrendous post-World War II domestic industrial pollution, which resulted in a "hidden" acid rain problem; and the present-day global problem of transboundary pollution, in which Japan is a victim of imported acid rain. He traces the country's scientific and policy responses to these crises through six distinct periods related to acid rain problems and argues that Japan's leadership role in East Asian acid rain science and policy today can be explained in large part by the "historical scientific momentum" generated by efforts to confront the issue since 1868, reinforced by Japan's cultural affinity with rain (its "culture of rain"). Wilkening provides an overview of nature, culture, and the acid rain problem in Japan to complement the general set of concepts he develops to analyze the interface of science and politics in environmental policymaking. He concludes with a discussion of lessons from Japan's experience that can be applied to the creation of sustainable societies worldwide.

The Acid Rain 2000 Conference in Tsukuba, Japan, held 10-16 December 2000, was the sixth such conference in the series, starting with Columbus, Ohio, USA, in 1975, and including Sandefjord, Norway, in 1980, Muskoka, Canada, in 1985, Glasgow, UK, in 1990, and Göteborg, Sweden, in 1995. This series of International Conferences on the acid rain problem has made a very important contribution to the process of summarising the state of current understanding and making this information available. In the 6th Conference, approximately 600 papers were presented, including talks and posters. About 300 peer-reviewed papers from the presentation appear in this volume, and will provide readers with a comprehensive review of the history and scientific aspects of the acid rain problem. The papers appear in three volumes: the first containing the plenary and keynote papers and the other two the remaining scientific papers. (Volume 1: ISBN 0-7923-7132-1; Volume 2: ISBN 0-7923-7133-X; Volume 3: ISBN 0-7923-7134-8). The Conference was arranged under the joint auspices of The Science Council of Japan, The Japanese Society of Limnology (representative academic society), Japan Association of Aerosol Science and Technology, The Japan Society for Analytical Chemistry, Japan Society for Atmospheric Environment, Chemical Society of Japan, The Ecological Society of Japan, The Japanese Society of Environmental Education, Society of Environmental Science, Japan, The Japanese Forestry Society, Japanese Society of Snow and Ice, Japanese Society of Soil Science and Plant Nutrition, and Japan Society on Water Environment, with the cooperation of Ibaraki Prefecture and Japan Environment Agency.

This collection of essays by noted academicians, lawyers, energy agency administrators, and research analysts focuses on the political and legal aspects of the acid rain debate, the policy options for resolving the controversy, and the international dimensions of acid rain control. The contributors highlight concerns drawn primarily from the developing study of acid rain in political science, economics, public administration, and policy analysis--concerns that are the focal point of the public debate over the nature, impact, and cost of acid rain and the mitigation of its effects. The book complements the impressive body of research from the natural sciences and responds to the need for applied study to help resolve the current policy stalemate on this critical environmental issue. The Acid Rain Debate features a comprehensive annotated bibliography on acid rain and relevant social science research.

The study focuses on Japan's policies toward international environmental issues and includes case studies on whaling, deforestation in the tropics, and acid deposition in Asia.

Discusses the discovery, formation, transportation, and effects on plant and animal life of acid rain and how economic and political forces have delayed action needed to reduce this slow poison from the sky.

This book seeks to explain what 'science' and 'politics' are in the context of environmental policymaking & how the interplay of science & politics influences international environmental policy.