Thinking about “Japanese Sustainability”: What are the Environmentally and Socially Conscious Actions of People Living in Japan?
As global warming continues and efforts toward a sustainable society attract attention, it is important to determine what actions each individual living person will take for the environment and society. However, such actions vary from person to person and from time to time.
INTAGE therefore conducted independent surveys to clarify what people think of as “environmentally and socially conscious action” based on their words.
Ranking of Environmentally and Socially Conscious Actions
We conducted two surveys to ascertain the environmentally and socially conscious actions people living in Japan normally engage in, based on their words.
First, in Step 1, we conducted a web questionnaire to people aged from their 20s to their 50s, in which we asked open-ended questions about “environmentally and socially conscious actions you normally take in your daily life.” The open-ended responses obtained were coded by content category, such as “energy saving” and “food,” and on this basis additional survey options were created.
In Step 2, we conducted a web questionnaire to 16- to 69-year-olds to ask them how often they took actions from among the options created in Step 1.
We found that around 90% of respondents had been engaging in energy-saving and conservation actions, saying they “turn off lights when not in use,” “separate garbage properly,” “avoid leaving tap water running,” and “bring [their] own bag when shopping,” among other such actions. *Total of “I always do this,” “I usually do this,” and “I sometimes do this” The next highest category of action was actions considerate to other people, with responders saying they “greet [their] neighbors when [they] see them,” “treat everyone equally without discrimination,” and “avoid making hurtful comments or posts,” among other such actions (Fig.1).
Since more than 80% of people take these energy-saving and conservation actions, as well as actions considerate to other people, and it can be said that these actions are established as common practices in Japan.
Fig.1
The Three Types of Environmentally and Socially Conscious Actions Discernable from the Words of People Living in Japan
What trends in environmentally and socially conscious actions that have emerged from the words of people living their lives? Factor analysis of the 37 extracted actions yielded a categorization into the following three action types.
① Actions friendly to the global environment
Avoiding buying plastic products; buying products from companies that address environmental issues; buying products that have eco-friendliness labels; and buying organic or low-pesticide vegetables: and other such actions that take account of global environmental considerations, such as global warming and soil and ocean pollution
② Energy-saving and conservation actions
Bringing their own bags when shopping; putting out empty cans, plastic bottles, food trays, milk cartons, and waste paper for recycling collection; turning off lights when not in use; and other such energy-saving and conservation activities
③ Actions showing kindness to people and things
Using items until they break; treating everyone equally without discrimination; avoiding leaving food on the plate; repairing or thinking of other uses for items instead of easily throwing them away; and other such actions that value relationships with others or using items with care for a long time
In a past independent survey on sustainability (https://gallery.intage.co.jp/sustainability1/), actions friendly to the global environment and energy-saving and conservation actions were mentioned, but actions showing kindness to people and things is a new type of action that we were able to grasp from the words of consumers. It is speculated that actions showing kindness to people and things are an extension of the “mottainai” (meaning “waste not, want not”) spirit of Japanese people, the values of using items with care for a long time, and the kindness and gentleness that are talked about as everyday morals. In the future, it may be necessary to conduct an analysis based on the Japanese values of actions showing kindness to people and things in order to capture environmentally and socially conscious actions and their level of awareness in Japan.
Characteristics of Action Types by Age
Is there a difference in the types of action depending on the age group? For each of the three types of action, we compared how much each age group was doing them, using scores (factor scores). * The results of the factor analysis are given at the end of this article.
Fig.2
Teenagers were more likely than other generations to act in a way that was friendly to the global environment and showed kindness to both people and things, and they were a generation that practiced a new type of action, but they had a low rate of performing actions in the pre-existing category of energy saving and conservation.
People in their 20s to 40s had a low rate of performing all three types of actions. In particular, those in their 20s and 30s reported low levels of energy-saving and conservation actions, while those in their 40s reported low levels of actions friendly to the global environment.
People in their 50s reported low levels of actions friendly to the global environment, but high levels of energy-saving and conservation actions.
The results showed that people in their 60s were more likely than other generations to take energy-saving and conservation actions.
Overall, we found that those performing the actions were teenagers, mostly students, as well as those in their 50s and 60s, who were settled into their work and home life and had plenty of time to spare, while those in their 20s to 40s, who are busy at work and at home and had no time to spare, did not manage to take such actions.
New Characteristics in the Actions of Teenagers
As mentioned above, teenagers were more likely to take environmentally and socially conscious actions, and their action types were markedly different from those of other age groups. Their new actions may offer hints for other generations to adopt. Finally, we return to the 37 specific actions (Table 4) and look at what kinds of actions teenagers engage in among the types of actions that were characteristic of their age group: actions friendly to the global environment and actions showing kindness to people and things.
Characteristic actions of teenagers among the types of actions friendly to the global environment
Among the types of actions friendly to the global environment, the actions teenagers took at a rate at least 10 percentage points higher than the overall rate were: “Donate items that are no longer used, such as clothes or toys,” “Avoid buying plastic products,” “Carry [their] own bottle or drinking flask instead of buying bottled drinks,” “Use rechargeable batteries,” and “Sell unwanted goods via flea market apps or at thrift stores instead of throwing them away.” In particular, there were actions to reuse items instead of throwing them away, including donating items that are no longer used, such as clothes or toys, and selling unwanted goods via flea market apps or at thrift stores instead of throwing them away.
Fig.3
Characteristic actions of teenagers among the types of actions showing kindness to people and things
Among the types of actions that show kindness to people and things, the actions teenagers took at a rate at least 10 percentage points higher than the overall rate were: “Walk, bike, or use public transportation to get around” and “Borrow or rent items I will use only once instead of buying them.” The background explanation for this would seem to be that teenagers, many of whom are students, do not have driver’s licenses and have little money to do as they please, but these actions and the aforementioned “donating items that are no longer used or selling them at thrift stores” share a common thread of “not throwing things away.”
Fig.4
Conclusion – What We Can Do –
What can we learn from the new actions of teenagers? The characteristic actions of teenagers were those friendly to the global environment and those that show kindness to people and things, and they showed glimpses of new reuse actions, such as not putting out items such as plastic and batteries, which lead to ocean and soil pollution, with rest of the garbage, and donating or selling unwanted items at flea markets or elsewhere instead of throwing them away. These efforts could be said to be characteristic of teenagers, who seem to be mostly students and have little money to do as they please, but from a different perspective, these actions that can be performed without spending a lot of money can arguably be easily taken on by other age groups.
As global warming continues, we hope that the results of this survey will spark each of us to take a step beyond our traditional energy-saving and conservation actions and to consider what actions we can take for a better environment and society.
Reference:
Outline of the survey <Quantitative Survey (1): Web Questionnaire> Survey area: Tokyo metropolitan and Kinki areas Subjects: Males and females aged 20 to 59 Distribution: Uniform gender and age distribution Method of extraction: Questionnaire distribution based on “Mighty Monitor” Sample size: n = 3,860 Survey implementation period: December 15 (Monday) to December 19 (Wednesday), 2022
<Quantitative Survey (2): Web Questionnaire> Survey area: Nationwide (Japan) Subjects: Males and females aged 16 to 69 Distribution: Uniform gender and age distribution Method of extraction: Questionnaire distribution based on “Mighty Monitor” Weighted sampling: Sample weighting was adjusted to the gender and age composition ratios in fiscal 2022, taking into account demographic trends, based on data from the national population census conducted in fiscal 2015. Sample size: n = 1,340 Survey implementation period: December 26 (Thursday) to December 28 (Monday), 2022
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