Abstract

Japanese environmental sociologists have stressed that environmental sociology should be mainly sociology of environmental problems. Typically they focus on victims of industrial, noise and air pollution in local community. But now we should shift to environmental policy studies, especially on global climate change protection in collaboration with environmental economics and law study. In contrast with spiked tire pollution in northern snow area, 1980’s., global warming issue is difficult to deal with because it is neither visible nor easily sensed as a problem by the average citizen. Behind the Japanese government’s proposal on reducing carbon dioxide emissions is the Ministry of International Trade and Industry’s latent desire to build new nuclear power plants. But the global trend is away from nuclear power. A major shift toward the development of renewable energy sources and energy conservation technologies is desirable.