Commitment to ecological sustainability through eco-picture journaling in Japan

A foundation of environmental education is to motivate individuals to practice pro-environmental behaviors. Though pro-environmental behaviors can take shape in many forms and address many issues, one environmental concern that fell on Yokohama City, Japan was the overfilling of dumping sites. As the population and rate of urbanization has increased over the years, the city has committed itself to genuine efforts to address such socio-environmental issues. By 2003, the majority of local waste disposal dump sites were filled, and the need for more sustainable measures quickly became apparent. The G-30 program, launched in 2003, aimed to cut garbage down by 30%, inciting the importance of recycling and other sustainable waste efforts. Part of the program involved the use of eco-picture diaries. In this case study, researchers sought to understand how the eco-picture diaries gained social ground and how they affected citizens' behaviors.

The eco-picture diary project worked in conjunction with the Recycle Design Initiative within the G-30 program. In the journals, students were encouraged to write and draw how they wanted their future city to look like and how to achieve it. Over 250,000 elementary school students in Yokohama City were involved from 2000-2018. In addition, through students discussing the diaries with their families and the general public's involvement in competitions, an estimated over 610,000 residents were involved in the project. Reasoned action and planned behavior were the theories behind this approach. Respectively, they assume that subjective norms and attitudes influence intention to act and self-efficacy and self-control influence behavior.

After 2018, the researchers administered questionnaires to 1,159 Yokohama citizens that asked if they knew about Yokohama's eco-picture diary and if they thought it led to garbage reduction. Interviews were also held with three city personnel, three staff members from the Recycle Design program, two elementary school teachers, one elementary school principal, a member of the Board of education, and a president of a private company. Interviewees were asked to discuss how they thought how the eco-picture diary worked as a teaching tool and why it became popular. The data was analyzed for common themes.

The analysis showed that marketing efforts of the eco-diaries were successful. From the questionnaires, 13.2% of respondents knew about the eco-picture diary, which was less than expected, but could have been due to the age of respondents. Over 50% of those who knew about the eco-picture diary said it did contribute to garbage reduction, which the researchers perceived as a positive indication of success.

The interview discussion painted the different positive effects of the eco-picture diary and how it worked. Positives included how it supported place-based education, eco-pedagogy, and reflection. The diary also supported backcasting, which means by students envisioning a better future, they then can work backwards to figure out how that can happen. This involves them identifying solutions and stakeholders, and develops their intention to act environmentally responsible. The interviews also showed how the eco-picture diary became popular. It occurred in three stages, from start-up, to the take-off, to the lock-in stage, or high growth and establishment of the program where the eco-diary became a social norm. Consistency and continuation of the project, despite slowdowns, was key for success. Teachers also said the eco-picture diary was easy to implement in classrooms due to the flexibility of it, which helped increase the popularity. Additionally, social marketing of the diary activity spread the awareness of the Initiative across the city and among various individuals.

This study had limitations and is not generalizable. The sample of interviewees was small and thus differing perspectives on the eco-picture diaries may be missing. There also may be other factors that influenced participants' garbage reduction behaviors that the survey and interviews did not acknowledge.

Suggestions for the study stem from the success of the eco-picture diaries, which these results showed was an effective form of environmental education. These results also offer suggestions to generating popular programs such as this through establishing it as a social norm. Successes from the eco-picture diary that could be adapted to other projects include its ease of use by teachers due to its flexibility, it served an instructional need, it was shared with a group that needed it (teachers), and the Initiative was persistent in marketing the diary.