TOKYO: Japanese experts and university students expressed concerns about people's low environmental consciousness in the country at a recent symposium in Tokyo.

Jusen Asuka, professor at Tohoku University, citing Swedish activist Greta Thunberg's campaign effort to tackle climate change, warned of a lack of environmental consciousness in Japan.

"People should know more about the damage" from climate change, Asuka said at the symposium held on Saturday.

A university student blamed a lack of environment and civic education at Japanese schools for the low awareness level. "Young people don't dare to act to change society because they don't think that actions can change society," the student said.

The symposium, sponsored by a nonprofit organization, was attended by some 40 people. It coincided with a U.N. climate change conference being held in Madrid.

A graduate student studying environmental energy said that it is necessary to accept the fact that young people lack a sense of crisis.

"The important thing is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions without lowering the quality of everyday lives using science and technology," the graduate student said.

After the symposium, Minori Yoshimi, a 22-year-old environment activist and Waseda University student, called on young people to raise awareness of the issue of climate change.

Young people "should strongly recognize that global warming is an issue that directly impacts everyday lives in the future," Yoshimi said.

JIJI Press