F

ighting climate change requires a certain attitude. The best attitude that I can think of is monozukuri.

Monozukuri is a Japanese expression that is at once simple and mysterious. Its literal meaning is “making things”. However, lying profoundly behind the act of making is an attitude that not only seeks perfection but does so for its own sake. The rewards that come with excellence — money, fame or at least peer recognition — are important, but they are not the purpose of monozukuri.

Its real intention is to set standards that will be emulated down the generations, thus providing continuity to human expectations and behavior. In a nutshell, monozukuri is a way of looking at work whose result is not just a product but the creation and sustenance of a way of life, a culture.

Monozukuri reveals itself in everything from the labors of an anonymous Japanese worker in a carproduction line to the work of a famous shrine–builder who chisels away quietly at perfection in order to keep a traditional occupation alive. Monozukuri is behind the high standards that Japanese artisans have come to expect of themselves, and others of them. Japanese society values a good carpenter by judging him against a good doctor or a good engineer; his status is not tied his occupation but to the degree of professionalism that he exhibits in his field, as they do in theirs.

This respect for excellence has much to do with Japan’s ability to combine meritocracy and egalitarianism.

What does all this have to do with climate change? Quite a lot, I would argue.

First, an attitude drawing on monozukuri would enable us to see the world as a single ecosystem for whose general upkeep each of us has a personal responsibility — just as Japanese workers see their individual efforts as contributing to the overall excellence of their society.

Secondly, world leaders would be forced to respond to this public sentiment by going beyond pious declarations of support for the global climate. Japanese managers are known for their rigorous self-expectations because they are in charge of workers who possess that attitude themselves. A slack manager would lose the respect of his staff. Similarly, an insincere statesman or politician should lose his standing in the eyes of an enlightened public. There is nothing like a demanding public to keep politicians on their ecological toes.

Thirdly, monozukuri obliges its practitioner to look beyond immediate gratification and invest his energies and imagination in values that will live into the future. Similarly, fighting climate change will not make us rich overnight, but it will help our children and grandchildren to have jobs and opportunities tomorrow and the day after in a sustainable economy.

Fourthly, the global fight against climate change is polluted by quarrels between the developed and developing worlds. The advanced economies owe much of their prosperity today to the unbridled environmental theft they have carried out since the Industrial Revolution. The developing economies see no reason why they should restrict their own growth to pay the price for others’ misdemeanors.

If we look purely for meritocracy — getting as much out of a system as we deserve — there is hardly an equitable way of settling the environmental dispute. But if we believe in egalitarianism — which is based on treating humans as ends and not as means — the world becomes an extended family in which member-nations, rich or poor, have a pooled responsibility for the upkeep of the ecological household.

Environmental monozukuri is a statement of faith in a common future for humanity. It reflects the spirit of the African proverb that says no one inherits anything on earth except to hand it down to the next generation. Meanwhile, as another African proverb goes, it takes a whole village to bring up a child. Likewise, it takes a whole world for a country to be ecologically sound.

As citizens of an island nation blessed with biodiversity — just as the Japanese enjoy the benediction of a protective culture that has seen them through so much — Indonesians are well-placed to adopt monozukuri as their weapon of choice in fighting climate change. All our long-term development plans must continue to revolve around the concept of environmental sustainability.

How can we transform monozukuri into practical ways of fighting climate change? Green technology provides an answer.

Hybrid cars, energy-efficient lighting, clean coal technology and solar panels are examples of the forward-looking technology that will make the economy greener. These options may be costly at first but they will become less expensive as the eco-friendly economy goes mainstream and economies of scale come into operation.

In this context, I would like to echo the recent comments made by Indroyono Soesilo, secretary of the Coordinating People’s Welfare Minister. He pointed out that Indonesia, a developing country, plays a significant role in absorbing carbon dioxide emissions. However, when developing countries seek to embrace green technology, they are hamstrung by expensive copyright regulations imposed by industrialized nations.

This Western mindset of having their cake and eating it too goes against the need for global monozukuri in employing green technology to resist climate change.

It is time we all learnt from the Japanese how to bridge the individual and the social, the national and the international. We can choose to hang separately or hang together.

I much prefer to live in a world which gives me something to look forward to. Monozukuri gives me faith that I am not alone.

The writer is chairman of the Indonesian Renewable Energy Society (METI) and president commissioner of the PT Panasonic Gobel Indonesia. The opinions expressed are his own.