Message from Prof. Stephen Ryan

異文化コミュニケーションのStephen Ryan教授から、カーボンニュートラル社会の実現とSDGs達成への課題についてのコメントを頂きました。

The field of Intercultural Communication can contribute to the noble goal of a carbon neutral society by helping highlight divergent culture based perceptions and values that countries and rural communities have when it comes to renewable energy. For example, developing countries and rural communities are not going to be as keen to reduce carbon emissions as the more economically developed communities because they simply need to jobs or food and see carbon reduction as a rich country problem. If governments or NPOs fail to recognize these kinds discrepancies, a lot of money and effort will potentially be wasted. Therefore, the issue of how specific cultural values create a bias in decision-making needs to be researched and highlighted. Results could help NPOs and government organizations create more realistic action plans towards meeting the UN's 17 SDGs.