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...resource-poor Japan, which imports 90% of its fuel, Kuzumaki is a marvel of energy self-sufficiency. Signs of the town's comprehensive focus on environmental sustainability are visible from its mountaintops to the pens of the dairy cows that once were the bedrock of local commerce. Atop Mt. Kamisodegawa, the 12 wind turbines, each 305 feet (93 m) tall, have the capacity to convert mountain gusts into 21,000 KW of electricity - more than enough to meet the needs of the town's residents. The excess is sold to neighboring communities...
...Japan's Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry's New Energy Development Organization (NEDO) uses wood chips from larch trees to create gas that powers the farm's milk and cheese operations. The bark of other trees is also made into pellets for heating stoves used throughout the community. A local winery, for instance, has two such stoves, and Kuzumaki pays residents up to 50,000 yen ($490) toward the cost of installing one. All told, clean energy generated 161% of Kuzumaki's electricity last year...
...over the past five months, sustainable energy is becoming less competitive economically and projects are being delayed or shelved worldwide. Besides, Kuzumaki's energy infrastructure would be difficult if not impossible to duplicate elsewhere, especially on a large scale. Investment in the town's projects - paid for by local tax revenues, private investors and the prefectural and central governments - totals $50 million. That's about $6,000 per resident, an amount that would pay the electricity bill for an average Tokyo family of four for more than seven years...
...Kuzumaki's city fathers say they aren't planning any more major projects. "Right now we're thinking more of how to best utilize what we have," says Fukasawaguchi, the local official, who is responsible for issues such as forestry and the preservation of the community's population of wild bears. Additional funding could be hard to come by, since Japan has a huge budget deficit and the economy is in recession. And even though local energy use is currently rising, Kuzumaki's population is falling as the young move away and remaining residents age. Absent an economic and demographic...
...divisive ethnic vitriol is further fueled by political calculation. Nationalism sells - as Dodik's and Silajdzic's parties learned in recent local elections, when they won the bulk of the vote in their respective constituencies. The politics of ethnocentrism props up the parties that really don't have anything else to offer the populace. The economy has been in deep trouble even before the international financial crisis. Unemployment and corruption are among highest in the region. Basic goods suffer from inflation. According to a recent study, about 70% of Bosnians below the age of 30 have abandoned hope...