Rika Sueyoshi: A Leader Communicating the Value of "Ethical"

To be honest, during my university days, I had almost no interest in social issues. The catalyst was my experience serving as a "Mystery Hunter" for the TBS program "Sekai Fushigi Hakken!" (Discover World's Mysteries). I was involved for about 10 years and visited many countries and regions referred to as remote areas. Through that, I began to see common problems facing the world. It was the realization that "the world's beautiful nature and vulnerable people are being sacrificed for the sake of a handful of power and profit." Seeing firsthand what I had only vaguely felt before was heartbreaking.

The biggest turning point was my experience summiting Mount Kilimanjaro in 2004. It is the highest peak in Africa, located in Tanzania, with an altitude of about 6,000 meters. There are glaciers at the summit, but it was said they would completely melt by around 2020 due to the effects of global warming. So, I went there on assignment to report on the local situation.

It was truly difficult, both mentally and physically. When I visited an elementary school at the 1,900-meter mark, I saw children planting trees one by one while praying. When I asked why they were praying, they said, "So that the glaciers will grow large again." The children knew the glaciers were melting. Part of the meltwater from the glaciers was their water for daily life, and its disappearance was a matter of life and death. They told me, "We can't climb up there, so please go and see it for us, big sister." I lost consciousness once due to altitude sickness along the way, but I was pushed forward by the children's words. I bivouacked (rested in the open) and made a second attempt during the sunrise hours.

I managed to reach the summit safely, but the sight I witnessed there was a shock. The glaciers had receded significantly, with only about 10 to 20 percent of what existed 100 years ago remaining. At the same time, looking at the view from the top, I felt that the Earth is all connected. We living in Japan might also be having an impact. Feeling that I couldn't just stand by, I decided to commit myself to activities that solve environmental problems.

After returning to Japan, I picked up trash at the beach near my home and helped out at environmental NGOs. However, even when you say "environmental problems," the scope is incredibly broad.

I felt frustrated, wondering, "What can I do with just my own strength?" That's when I encountered fair trade. Fair trade is a production-consumption system where developed countries buy products made by people in developing countries at fair prices, supporting the improvement of workers' lives and their independence. I thought that this was something I could do, and something everyone could practice in their daily consumption behavior. I decided this would be my life's work, and I visited people involved in it to deepen my studies.

After starting my fair trade initiatives, I encountered the concept of ethical consumption. "Ethical" refers to ways of thinking and acting that consider people, the global environment, schools, all living things including animals, society, and local communities. Consumption behavior based on this thinking is "ethical consumption." My focus shifted toward promoting ethical consumption as a whole, not just fair trade.

They are often confused, but the SDGs are "goals" that humanity must achieve. To achieve them, the state of the human heart is very important. Ethical is like the philosophy that supports that. I think it's easy to understand if you organize it as: under that spirit, the process of aiming to achieve the SDGs leads to the realization of improved sustainability.

Ethical means "moral," and it is a very broad concept. Even if general people want to do something for society or the global environment now, the hurdles are actually high. That's why what can be done through consumption behavior is important. Ethical consumption is something everyone can start doing today.

I'm using trial and error, but since there are certainly people who feel the price is high, I tell them about things they can do without spending money. For example, an action called "Rethink," where you re-examine your own life. I once took all the clothes out of my closet and looked at them again to see if they were truly necessary. As a result, the things that remained were only those with a story or those inherited from my grandmother or mother. Through rethinking, my awareness changed to only buying what is truly necessary from now on.

Measuring the amount of trash is also important. Try classifying and quantifying food waste and plastic. Like a diet, you can't reduce trash unless you measure it. I reduced the amount of food waste by starting things like composting. First, rethinking your own situation is the first step toward an ethical choice.

As for fair trade products, items like chocolate are appearing at prices no different from regular products. The prices of toilet paper made from recycled paper or with forest certification are also becoming comparable.

I myself had a conflict about whether it was really okay to proceed down this path while working in television. When I told people around me that I wanted to do this, they said things like, "Are you going to do volunteer work?" or "That's noble of you," and someone from a company even asked, "Will it be profitable?" There were cold reactions, but I always had the determination I made at the summit of Kilimanjaro. Until then, I had been someone who quit everything after three days, but since that summit, I could no longer forgive that side of myself.

While feeling a gap with the glamorous world of television, I thought there must be people like me who are interested in fair trade, and in 2010, I held the "Fair Trade Concierge Course." I was encouraged by the fact that about 20 people gathered at that time, and I have held the course twice a year ever since.

I hit it off with two people who participated in that first session, and we talked about wanting to launch an organization that could utilize the network of participants. That developed into the establishment of the Ethical Association in 2015.

That said, for the first three years after the establishment, everything was self-funded. But having colleagues to work with strengthened my desire to continue. I never imagined that having companions would be this powerful.

I was working so frantically that I didn't have time to feel anxious. The Ethical Association mainly conducts courses and lectures, and I was so busy fulfilling the roles in front of me that I haven't had time to worry about the future. I do my best with the work I'm given and lead it to the next opportunity; it's a repetition of this. The "Fair Trade Concierge Course" also changed its name to the "Ethical Concierge Course" and continues today.

Also, I continue to communicate the significance of "ethical" in my own way through my writings, including the book "Ethical Revolution: With a New Yardstick for Happiness" (Yamakawa Shuppansha) published in 2021.

At the UN Summit held in September 2015, the same year the association was launched, the SDGs were adopted unanimously, including by Japan. However, at the time, there was no sign of active engagement in Japan as there is now. In the last few years, the number of companies speaking out has gradually increased, and the government has begun to work actively, from which social interest began to rise.

That's right. Of course, the number of participants is increasing, but among those taking the course, staff from private organizations and local governments, and people from companies including executives—especially those from sustainability departments—have become prominent. The gender ratio, which was initially 80–90% female, is now about half and half.

As the number of participants increased, so did the opportunities to be invited for lectures. Educational institutions are particularly numerous, and I feel that the SDGs have come to be taught in schools. We also worked to have it included in textbooks, and in 2021, items related to ethical consumption were included in junior high school textbooks for the first time, and they have been in high school textbooks since 2022.

As companies, administrations, local governments, educational institutions, and the media changed little by little, our activities also became more active. Currently, the total number of participants in the "Ethical Concierge Course" has reached about 15,000.

Yes. Actually, the increase in the number of participants was also significantly influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic. When we switched from face-to-face to entirely online, people from various locations gathered to take the course. They range widely from their teens to their 70s, and Japanese people living overseas also participate.

Not really (laughs). I feel that we are where we are today precisely because of the changes in the times. There are many things we haven't been able to do. Even so, I do feel that the people who took our courses and became concierges are becoming agents of change in their respective regions. The fact that they are active is our motivation.

When trying to create change in a society that is still not fair, I think there are two things we can do. One is to continue suggesting, as we have been doing, that people consider their consumption behavior based on ethical values within their individual lives.

The other is that I don't think this world will change unless we change the big things that move society, like laws and systems. I feel that our outreach there is still insufficient. I definitely want to do that. For example, getting involved in government policymaking so that ethical consumption becomes more widespread. You might think it's difficult to change the social system, but I believe there is actually a lot that can be done as an individual.

For example, suppose there are no ethical products or products with certification labels when shopping at a supermarket. In such a case, try positively appealing to the store, saying, "I want to buy such products." "Customer voice" cards have great power. In fact, I hear many success stories where, after asking for eggs that consider animal welfare through cage-free or free-range methods, eggs from better production backgrounds started being stocked from the following month.

The action is taken by one person, but the voice of the consumer leads to changing even companies and producers. The expression of consumers should be a boost to changing the way things are made. You could say we have wasted our rights as citizens and consumers until now. I want more people to know that we have the power to change society.

The Ethical Association has a mission to "nurture people who think for themselves about the essence of ethical, take action, and create change. And, together with such people, realize a sustainable society where an ethical way of living becomes the 'yardstick for happiness'." However, today's society tends to use money and status as yardsticks. I want to change that kind of society. I want to create a society where everyone can lead an ethical life, pursue happiness, and where any person is given the possibility to choose their own future.

Kenji Miyazawa said, "Individual happiness cannot exist until the whole world becomes happy." Conversely, it means that unless there is individual happiness, there is no happiness for the world as a whole. I hope that even one more person will think about making the happiness of the whole world and the individual compatible.

In the Faculty of Policy Management, I took Professor Atsushi Kusano's lectures on international relations and international cooperation. However, I now feel a desire to study what I once learned in my own way even more than back then. Perhaps the biggest thing from my learning at university was having a perspective to look at things comprehensively and from a bird's-eye view. I am now keenly feeling the importance of that perspective.

When I talk about the SDGs with people from companies, they say, "We are doing number this and number that." However, today's world is intricately intertwined, and sometimes while reaching out with one hand, you are stepping on something else with one foot. This is called "issue linkage," where an approach to solving one problem ends up creating another. Electric vehicles are environmentally friendly, but other problems like child labor arise when mining the rare metals and lithium necessary for manufacturing.

Ethical is a perspective that looks at various problems comprehensively. Looking at the environment, economy, society, etc., from multiple angles. It is very important to ensure that "seeing the trees but not the forest" does not happen.

Overseas, awareness of the global environment and warming is rising among young people. In Japan, it hasn't become such a large movement, but there are a certain number of young people who feel anxiety about the future or have anger toward society. On the other hand, there are also people who have no interest at all, and it is becoming polarized.

For those young people, I think adults must show through their actions and take the lead in showing how to change. Otherwise, the number of young people who take an interest will not increase.

Society is currently in a process of major change, and I think it's like everyone is climbing a spiral staircase. If you try to challenge something, you might be pushed back.

However, I want young people to have opportunities to dialogue with people from various countries and realistically know that the world is wide. I hope they will have many experiences with the feeling that "we are the ones who will create history" and become leaders of society.

I hope they will face social issues positively while maintaining a sense of urgency.