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Washington D.C.November 20, 2024
Rachel Herring, a member of the Choctaw Nation, spent the past year in Kyūshū, Japan, living within genkai shūraku, the country’s marginal rural communities. Immersed in everyday, countryside living, she mulled over the question: what does a just, clean energy transition look like in rural Japan?
As a Fulbright-National Geographic Award recipient and beyond, Herring investigates how listening to the perspectives of communities and incorporating traditional culture can facilitate a just energy transition. She focuses her research specifically on Japan and Tribal Nations in the United States, observing how communities within the two have similar visions for their energy futures.
“The values that are most important to me are the connections we have with each other. Value systems in traditional Japanese culture, especially in Shintoism, and Indigenous communities have remarkable similarities, including reciprocity, animism and reverence for the natural world.”
Herring explains that rural Japan faces unique barriers to realizing a sustainable future. Cultural heritage preservation has been on the decline, exacerbated by large-scale renewable energy development and a shrinking, aging population. People working on the energy transition often pass over traditional knowledge and cultural values, and the urgency to meet upcoming emissions targets is likely to bring homogenized innovation.
Photograph by Rachel Herring
She uses the ubiquity of rooftop solar installations as an example, observed in neighborhoods in Fukuoka. “Although traditional tiles seem to withstand solar panel installation, I can’t help but imagine these tiles, made from compact natural fibers and used for generations for various cultural and functional purposes, will swiftly be replaced by roofs that can comfortably fit the western invention of rooftop solar. If energy transition decisions are made at a national level, the transition runs the risk of leaving out essential local community relationships to place, land and cultural identity.”
As societies around the globe seek more sustainable futures, Herring doesn’t want cultural traditions to be lost or overwritten. In her research, she hopes to offer findings that benefit rural and Indigenous communities not just in Japan, but around the world.
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ABOUT THE WRITER
Melissa Zhu is a Content Strategy Coordinator for the National Geographic Society with a love for language's ability to articulate the fullness of human experience. When she's not focused on advancing the nonprofit mission of the Society, you might find her immersed in a good book.
About The National Geographic Society
The National Geographic Society is a global nonprofit organization that uses the power of science, exploration, education and storytelling to illuminate and protect the wonder of our world. Since 1888, National Geographic has pushed the boundaries of exploration, investing in bold people and transformative ideas, providing more than 15,000 grants for work across all seven continents, reaching 3 million students each year through education offerings, and engaging audiences around the globe through signature experiences, stories and content.
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