Many people in Japan have started their own austerity plan since the 3/11 catastrophic earthquake as a way to express sorrow for the national tragedy. While the intention is admirable, the effort actually hampered the economic recovery of the Tohoku region, a classic example of what people's good will turned detrimental. The backbone of modern economy lies in consumption and any unexpected cutback will for sure delay a speedy recovery and any self-help initiatives. Similarly, the power-saving theme which dominated the social mood the last few months lacks true economic benefit as any dip in power usage during the low-consumption months will not help store up the excess power capacity in preparation for the upcoming high-consumption months. It only reduces TEPCO's revenue, which is much needed for reparations to the affected residents around the nuclear plant. While abstinence in energy has helped us reflect on the way we have been using energy and is good for the environment in general, any senseless cut should be rethink twice. The real test of grit of this nation comes as we finally step into summer. Already we saw a 93.3% electricity usage yesterday under an unyielding 35 degree Celsius. We will see if any 自粛 practices in the last few months help us weather through this summer.
On a related note, I came across to this blog post few days ago and that resonates with this idea though the context is completely different. We like to believe that what we are doing are for the goods of others (為你好) but a lot of times, this is uncalled for and is not what your counterpart wants. What is likely the case is that we just like to self-glorify our sacrifice and claim righteousness for the sake of pride instead of listening to what the other person wants and develop mutual benefit. So next time you do something thinking that it is for the sake of that person, talk to them before proceeding.
Well, this is actually quite a dilemma to someone who truly wants to do something good for the society - are we really helping or just self-helping?
The last remark is interesting. I've thought about this point before and came to the conclusion that we're all selfish, and how ever generous we wish to think of ourselves when we carry out charitable acts, we only do good because it makes us happy, and doesn't that originate from a selfish need?
回覆刪除We are just self-helping.
so there is no way we can avoid being hypocritical?
回覆刪除And thanks for the comment, who are you?
everytime i saw that pie chat, i always wonder where are those non-used electricity gone? since there is no way to save those energy after it was generated. there is no such "battery" for saving "electricity". Thus, in that chat, i see 22% was wasted.
回覆刪除yeah i was confused how this electricity saving thing works in the beginning. turns out there is no way to save the unused electricity so to a certain extent, electricity austerity is quite useless. but now there are companies who have made giant home-use battery where you can save up some electricity for a few hours. the price tags on them are rather high tho, i bet they won't be popular.
回覆刪除the reason for saving electricity is, all nuclear power plants have to be shut down and check. that increase to load of other power plants. so, better saving electricity, to secure safety, than make money. by the way, even in the normal day, we have 10 to 20% electricity loss during transfer. so, in this sense, everything is logical.
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