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Interview 2

Who Did You Interview?

  • Selina Xizhu He, Summer Session Student

Demographics That Might Provide Helpful Context for Their Responses

  • Age: 21
  • Gender: Female
  • Undergraduate Student majoring in Environmental Science
  • Lives in college dorm in Tokyo, Japan

Key Findings from the Interview

Questions:

  • Are there anything you do on a daily or weekly basis that you consider sustainable? What is it?
  • Tell me about the last time you used something or went somewhere sustainable. Where was it, and what was it?
  • Are there any sustainable systems in your residential area? What are they?
  • If a sustainable system could be added to your residential area, which aspect would you think most should be applied?
  • Are there any changes you’d like to make to the systems around your environment?
  1. Goes to restaurants with vegetarian options and vendors that don't provide plastic straws
  • Minimizes trash production as there are minimal trashcans on the streets of Tokyo
  • Goes to Yoyogi Park near her apartment(a large park complex with lawns for yoga, jogging, walking dogs, etc.)where there are plenty of greens
  • Categorizes recycling - throws garbage into specialized cans, such as specialized trashcans for vending machines
  1. Every building in Japan has a well designed litter system, as they categorize garbage in plastic bags and send them away once or twice every week. For example, there is a label for flammable/inflammable trash, PET, glass bottle, cardboards, etc. Recycling for cap and bottle is separate as well to maximize upcycling. Residents will have to pay to recycle large items over 30cm, e.g. a mattress, further minimizing people to throw away furniture and encourages resale and reuse of them.
  2. Most buildings in Japan are energy efficient, including her residential building. She suggests more distribution of recyclable bags in the building, more posters about sustainability around apartment complex, more vegetarian options and thrift stores downstairs, more water bottles and dispensables in the buildings.
  3. Prefers to have more greens around Shibuya, the district that she lives in Tokyo. Since it is quite crowded around Shibuya, Selina thinks that it would be nice to have her own quiet place such as a rooftop garden with greens to balance with the noise in the city. To encourage recycling, more machines that can turn every plastic bottle for coins could be installed around the city.
  4. So far there are only small bushes in around her apartment, so in addition to plantation, solar panels could be installed on the rooftop and around the park in her neighborhood. Transportation in Tokyo is already very development, including hybrid taxis(Toyota JPN Taxi) and majority of population taking the metro and bus over driving due to limited parking spots and gas prices, but the majority still drives diesel cars, so the distribution of EV cars would be the next step in creating a green ecosystem in the city.