about 15 million units in 2008.

Besides such approaches, approaches combining credit and other purchasing with GHG reduction in various products and services have been started.

A regional bank will purchase emission quotas equal to certain percentage of the deposit amount (0.1%) over 5 years, if they receive time deposits from customers, and have transferred this to the Japanese government without charge. The deposit was 6.23 billion yen, exceeding the initial offering amount of 6 billion yen and 2,000 tons of emission quotas were transferred to the government without charge as for the first fiscal year. Furthermore, this bank is promoting its environmentally friendly loans, such as to provide financing the deposits to businesses which conduct GHG reductions. Besides this, various products and services are being created, including the followings: a home delivery service where the product purchasers bear the partial burden of CDM credits when using a certain mail order business; a member card of a certain convenience store with a system in which the convenience store transfers the amount of emission quotas to the government by trading the CDM credits created by wind power generation projects with their points.

(2) Highly effective environmental load reduction approaches in cooperation with regional development

Some environmental measures can be approached by individual entities, while for other measures, it is essential to change them by community and regional development with medium and long term perspectives. Each entity’s effort on environmental conservation will bear great fruits, by structuring the community itself for less environmental load. Community development for less environmental load is also expected to revitalize regions.

## A Compact city created in cooperation with each entity

Aomori City formulated the basic concept for its compact city forms, under the banner of the Aomori Urban Master Plan in 1999, triggered by the forced volume expansion of its administrative expenditures, including snow removal expenses, due to the expansion of its urban area. The city is promoting urban development and curbing suburban development and set down a transportation system classified by area, from the basis that enables to transport by foot and public

# More Stars Should Be Visible

The Ministry of the Environment is calling for the "CO₂ Reduction/Lights-Down Campaign" every year to turn off the lights at illuminated facilities and others. The ministry called for a nationwide blackout on illuminated facilities and others on the first and last days of the campaign (June 21 and July 7) in 2008. Especially July 7 was chosen as the "Cool Earth Day" in the Action Plan for Achieving a Low-carbon Society, since it was the opening date of the 2008 Toyako Summit in Hokkaido, and various nationwide events, including the "TANABATA LIGHTDOWN" were addressed. Light downs will lead to prevention of light pollution, in addition to global warming prevention and energy saving. Although the direct effects of global warming prevention and energy saving can not be seen easily, the starry skies may shine brighter than usual on the nights where unnecessary lights are eliminated. Even if the campaign itself ended after a short time, these approaches are expected to encourage further actions, such as refraining from

Night view of Kofu basin before the Light-down

electricity use in one's daily life.

The “Light-down Kofu-valley 2008” was held in Kofu basin, Yamanashi Prefecture in October 2008. The event has been held for ten years to “restore the beautiful starry sky by eliminating street lights,” and the night view of Kofu basin turned pretty dark in the hour between 8pm and 9pm.

The lights-down can contribute to global warming prevention and other issues, and will lead each individual to consider global issues, while looking at the night sky. Region-wide approval and actions are essential for conducting lights-down, and the darkness of the night sky where stars can be seen is the expression of the region's will. There should not be unnecessary illumination in our surroundings. The year 2009 is the International Year of Astronomy, and with such nationwide efforts at the same time, Japan's night sky will be more beautiful. CO $ _{2} $ emission reduction is also expected from such approaches.

Night view of Kofu basin during the Light-down