Roger Ong
CoronaChampions is a new interview series exploring how Japanese sustainable organizations and brands are meeting the challenges from the coronavirus threat head on.
Can you tell us more about Fridays for Future Fukuoka?
Fridays for Future (FFF) Fukuoka is an organization that stands up for global climate change. We started operating in 2019 and have since held two marches and many other events. In addition, we always try to encourage the local government to reduce their emission of greenhouse gases.
The Global Climate Strike is an outdoor event. Surely the call for self-restraint has affected FFF Fukuoka’s activities?
The coronavirus outbreak had a big impact on our events. Our third climate strike on the street of Tenjin in Fukuoka city has been cancelled, so we have shifted other planned events and face-to-face meeting to the internet. We had to give up meeting in person too. Therefore, we are going to conduct strikes online by cooperating with all the FFF organizations in Kyushu. Banding under “Fridays for Future Kyushu”, we streamed a digital strike event on 24th April on Zoom as “Climate Strike Online in Kyushu”, inviting citizens and various media outlets to participate.
Other than online strikes, are there other ways we can still promote awareness for the environment?
Although you cannot go out, you can think about things you can do for environmental conservation from some perspectives. Some followers of FFF Fukuoka try the tips we shared on our SNS as GreenFridays. As for greenhouse gas emission, bicycles are more preferable for short distance than public transportation where more people share room with others. You might be able to review your energy plan from companies that rely on fossil fuel to ones that use renewable energy to supply us daily energy as we spend more time in our houses. Personally, I started composting while I stay home so less food garbage will be wasted.
How should we reconcile the coronavirus pandemic and climate change?
Since the possibility of pandemic is getting higher, we know you have been going through a quite tough time. Many people are facing the fear of getting infected with COVD-19; however, we need to realize we have been facing the crisis of climate change for a long time. We have many things we can do and think twice about as we stay at home. Please review your lifestyle and prepare for the world that comes after this panic.
