[Report] Yokkaichi City Commissioned Project: Global Environmental Workshop in FY2025

Summary

　ICETT held the "Global Environment Workshop" for high school students as a project commissioned by Yokkaichi City. In FY2025, the theme was "Mitigation and Adaptation to Climate Change: Efforts to Prevent Global Warming," and the program was held over eight days from July 28 to August 4, 2025.

Background and Objectives

　Every year during the summer vacation, we invite high school students from Tianjin, China, Yokkaichi's friendship city, and Long Beach, USA, Yokkaichi's sister city, to Yokkaichi for training and exchanging opinions with high school students in Yokkaichi city on environmental issues and other topics, providing an opportunity to deepen mutual understanding. The purpose of this program is to encourage the next generation of young people to think about the environment from an international perspective and to revitalize environmental conservation activities in their respective cities.

Contents

　During the approximately one-week program, lectures and site visits were conducted with the cooperation of various companies and organizations. The following is a list of the companies that cooperated with the program and the places visited.

• Yokkaichi Pollution and Environmental Museum for Future Awareness
• Yokkaichi City Museum
• Mie Climate Change Adaptation Center
• Nissan Motor Co,. Ltd.
• Yokkaichi Clean Center
• DIC Corporation
• Imuraya Group Co., Ltd.
• Fisheries Research Laboratory, Graduate School of Bioresource, Mie University
• Graduate School of Environmental Studies, Nagoya University

　In a lecture by the Mie Climate Change Adaptation Center, participants learned basic knowledge about climate change mitigation and adaptation. In the company visits, participants were introduced to climate change mitigation and adaptation measures, and were able to learn about various initiatives through lectures and tours.

　Since the three cities have one thing in common: they are port cities, Fisheries Research Laboratory of Mie University in Toba provided a valuable opportunity to learn about the impact of global warming on the marine environment and the cutting-edge research on blue carbon.

　One of the objectives of this program is to deepen cultural international exchange. This year, participants experienced "Hinaga Uchiwa" - paper & bamboo fan making, and flower arrangement. In making Hinaga-uchiwa fans under the guidance of Inatoh Corporation, participants not only experienced a traditional Mie Prefecture craft dating back to the Edo period, but also learned that Hinaga-uchiwa fans are an environmentally friendly way to protect against the heat.
　In addition, the participating students also learned about flower arranging from members of the Yokkaichi Commercial High School Flower Arrangement Club and were able to deepen their interactions with high school students of the same age.

Results and Prospects

　On the last day of the training, the participants were divided into two mixed teams from each city and presented their results. The participants deepened their understanding of climate change mitigation and adaptation measures through lectures and observation tours, and made significant progress by presenting concrete measures for environmental conservation that they themselves should take to prevent global warming.
　After the presentations by both teams, Prof. Mikami gave his critique and valuable advice for further perspectives and future efforts.

　Through the friendships formed at the Global Environment Workshop, we hope that the high school students, who are the future leaders of each city, will continue their exchanges, improve the environmental problems of the friendship city of Tianjin and the sister cities of Long Beach and Yokkaichi, and serve as a bridge for friendship between the cities.

　We would like to take this opportunity to express our sincere gratitude to all those who have contributed to this training program.

Call for Participants for the 2025 Global Environment School for High School Students