In post-war Japan, the economy wasn’t doing so great, so you couldn’t get everyday-use items like household cleaners, says Lisa Katayama, author of Urawaza, a book named after the Japanese term for clever lifestyle tips and tricks, So people looked for ways to do with what they had.

Let's not forget that electric vehicles are cleaner.

It's simply not true that economic growth will surely make our world cleaner.

Notwithstanding important recent progress in developing renewable fuel sources, low fossil fuel prices could discourage further innovation in, and adoption of, cleaner energy technologies.

So it is saying that economic development should make for a cleaner world?

There is strong evidence that both innovation and adoption of cleaner technology are strongly encouraged by higher fossil fuel prices.