"Japan's Lessons on the Economy and the Environment: Our Pollution Experience"

Last meeting in our Environmental Engineering class, our professor made us watch a documentary entitled "Japan's Lessons on the Economy and the Environment: Our Pollution Experience". It was a 4 part documentary about the history of how japan learned and answers their problem on economy and pollution in the environment.

WWII leaves japan devastated because of the attacks from other countries and the atomic bombing of the United States in Nagasaki and Hiroshima. But Japan pick herself up after the war and rise as a developing country. Due to the needs for economic development, japan build many factories in order to produce more products in order for its GNP to kick up high so they will have a big economic growth. But they didn't notice something important because they focus on producing more products which result in more consumption. They didn't notice that they're producing more and more pollution. At first it doesn't affect them because of its long term effect, but after several months several horrific diseases spread through to those people who are near factories, imagine this, factories are just in the back of your house producing pollution, chemical dangerous pollution. While watching the documentary and this diseases part came up, it feels like it became a horror movie because the effects of the disease is really scary. Then the people took action and protest in order for the factories to be closed. But the CEO's and other higher ups in the corporation who owns these factories is denying that the cause of these diseases are the pollution that is coming out from their factories because they said that this kinds of factories are all over the world but in other places people near the factories are not experiencing problems like this. Japanese people became angry because many of them are dying because of these diseases so they didn't stop protesting, and it became a people power act. They sue the corporations and won the case. The Japanese government amends it's constitution regarding the environment acts and laws that is needed to secure the health of the people. 

After this horrific experience, learned their lessons regarding economy, environment and pollution. Today they are assuring that every factories have a filtering system that cleanse the pollution that they are producing before getting it out to the air and environment. Because of the mistakes Japan did, and because of the people who have concern for the environment and the people around them, Japan really did learned its lesson.