6. Consumption of natural resources and acid deposition

Consumption of natural resources and environmental pollution are closely related. For instance, Japan is the second biggest copper consuming country in the world, with consumption of about 1.5 million tones of copper annually. The great image of Buddha at Nara used about 500 tones of copper. In other words, we annually consume the equivalent of about 3,000 images of Buddha in copper. In the past, a large amount of copper was produced in Japan, but it has been exhausted. Now we import all the copper we use. About 40 per cent of the imported copper is to produce power transmission lines. Significant amount of sulfur dioxide is emitted through the refining processes of copper from sulfuric copper. Rivers have been polluted by copper in these processes. Pollution problems may be happening in countries that export copper. Comprehensive international cooperation is, therefore, required to tackle the acid deposition problem.

Consumption of natiral resources and emission of pollutants
(Provided by Dr. Kenichi SATAKE)