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.
Please tell us about Fridays for Future Kyoto.
FFF Kyoto is based in Kyoto with students as the center. It aims to realize practical climate change countermeasures that are consistent with the Paris Agreement.
FFF Kyoto has two main categories of activities. One, we are involved in submitting opinions to the local government and the nation, thus directly asking them to formulate climate change policies that can further the youth’s drives. Two, we organize strikes and conduct workshops to promote awareness of the climate crisis to the public.
How has FFF Kyoto been affected by the new coronavirus epidemic?
The biggest impact was the disablement of all our offline activities. Firstly, the Global Climate Strike scheduled for 24 April was cancelled. The offline workshops that we have been conducting to share knowledge of climate change and rally for the strike had to be stopped.
Also, we lost opportunities to learn about local government policies. We had plans to visit the Environmental Council to learn about Kyoto’s climate change policy, but sitting in to the Council’s meetings was restricted due to the coronavirus. It is a pity that we couldn’t attend because the year 2020 had important ordinance reviews on Kyoto’s climate change countermeasures.
How have you responded to these event cancellations?
We switched our offline activities to online. The Global Climate March is now the “Climate Strike Online”. In Japan, we reached out through social networks, like using the hashtag #気候も危機 (meaning
the climate is also in crisis”) on Twitter, to promote awareness of how the climate is also facing a crisis.
Kyoto hosted an online FFF event for the Kansai region, where each region exchanged knowledge, of their activities, of Japan’s climate change policies etc. Furthermore, it was the first time all the regions in Japan gathered for an online event, to which FFF Kyoto participated in too.
Only online makes it possible to rally everyone together, so I hope various people will use the opportunity to see the atmosphere of FFF, and even feel interested to join our climate strikes. (The details for Japan’s Global Climate March can be found on the homepage here.)
Regarding the policies of the local government, I would like to contact the prefecture staff and hold online study sessions. If we can portray the learning sessions through live streams, it will not only become an opportunity for more people to learn, but also to have their questions answered. I think we should proceed to expand our activities by leveraging on online tools.
It might be awhile before we are done with the pandemic though.
Sadly, the effects of the coronavirus will continue for some time. I think that we are affected by the coronavirus one way or another. We can overcome this difficult time together by looking out for one another.
