Kyoto, Heal Thyself

The gate of Yasaka Shrine, at the end of busy Shijo Street, in the geisha district of Gion, Kyoto, Japan.

Jeremy Sutton-Hibbert / WPN for TIME

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But is that nearly enough? Cool Biz, Top Runner, even the hybrid taxi I took home from the office last night are all great ideas, but none of them can yet keep up with Japan's ballooning growth. Air conditioners and refrigerators may have grown more efficient, but there are simply more of them than ever, along with energy-demanding items that didn't exist in 1990, such as flat-panel TVs and DVD recorders. As more and more Japanese stay single and live by themselves, they're not just a disappointment to parents who want to see them wed; they're also jacking up carbon emissions by increasing the overall number of households.

Such changes are happening all over the world, frustrating the best efforts on climate change. Japan shows that to meet even the modest goals of Kyoto, "we might need to do something as extreme as 'no-car day' or 'no-air-conditioning day' once a week," says Koichi Iwama, an economics professor at Wako University who specializes in energy policy. Selling such ideas won't take the kind of miracle you'd pray for in a Kyoto temple, but it won't be easy either.