ebook img

Nature Technology: Creating a Fresh Approach to Technology and Lifestyle PDF

182 Pages·2013·4.722 MB·English
Save to my drive
Quick download
Download
Most books are stored in the elastic cloud where traffic is expensive. For this reason, we have a limit on daily download.

Preview Nature Technology: Creating a Fresh Approach to Technology and Lifestyle

Emile H. Ishida · Ryuzo Furukawa Nature Technology Creating a Fresh Approach to Technology and Lifestyle Nature Technology Emile H. Ishida (cid:129) Ryuzo Furukawa Nature Technology Creating a Fresh Approach to Technology and Lifestyle Emile H. Ishida Ryuzo Furukawa Tohoku University Tohoku University Sendai, Miyagi , Japan Sendai, Miyagi, Japan ISBN 978-4-431-54612-2 ISBN 978-4-431-54613-9 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-4-431-54613-9 Springer Tokyo Heidelberg New York Dordrecht London Library of Congress Control Number: 2013955227 © Springer Japan 2013 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifi cally the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfi lms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. Exempted from this legal reservation are brief excerpts in connection with reviews or scholarly analysis or material supplied specifi cally for the purpose of being entered and executed on a computer system, for exclusive use by the purchaser of the work. Duplication of this publication or parts thereof is permitted only under the provisions of the Copyright Law of the Publisher’s location, in its current version, and permission for use must always be obtained from Springer. Permissions for use may be obtained through RightsLink at the Copyright Clearance Center. Violations are liable to prosecution under the respective Copyright Law. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specifi c statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. While the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication, neither the authors nor the editors nor the publisher can accept any legal responsibility for any errors or omissions that may be made. The publisher makes no warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein. Printed on acid-free paper Springer is part of Springer Science+Business Media (www.springer.com) Pref ace Starting in 1978, I worked 26 years for the INAX Corporation, a private company. In the latter half of this period, I concurrently held the posts of Chair of the Environmental Strategy Committee and the Technical Strategy Committee of the company and served as Chief Technical Offi cer, thus expending much energy on the question of how to balance the environment with economic performance in a corporation. I was, however, unable to come up with a satisfactory answer to this question. Not only did I have trouble fi nding the right answer; being unable to over- come the contradiction between environment and economy, I found myself being pulled ever deeper into the negative spiral created by this paradox. At the same time, I shuddered at the thought that without an answer to this question, manufacturing in Japan would have no viable future. In order to search for an answer, I quit the company and took up a position at Tohoku University in 2004. Nine years have passed since then. Have I found an answer? Unfortunately, not yet, but I have started to get a feeling for where the doors are that must be opened to arrive at an answer. On March 11, 2011, an earthquake of unprecedented scale struck the Tohoku Region where I work and live. If we think of civilization as the aggregation of tech- nology, the dramatic way in which the cosmetic surface of civilization peeled off in an instant made me reconsider numerous issues. What does it mean to face the global environmental issue squarely? How can we contemplate the issue of living wholesome, fulfi lling lives? And, what is the role of technology—now so urgently questioned—in contributing to these two issues? It struck me that fi nding solutions to these issues is the responsibility of the survivors of the horrible earthquake and also one way of paying respect to those who lost their lives. Here, indeed, lies the answer to the question of how to balance the environment and the economy. One solution, undoubtedly, is to be found in a Nature Technology development system which intelligently harnesses the amazing powers of nature. In 2009, as the notion of “Nature Technology”, if still vague, started taking shape, I published a book from Tohoku University Press entitled Channeling the Forces of Nature , with the help of two colleagues. In this book, I had not yet discovered the lifestyle v vi Preface approach which was one of the doors to answering the questions at hand, nor could I envision the actual methodologies required to design such lifestyles. Later, with the help of Dr. Ryuzo Furukawa, who has worked with me since 2005, and other colleagues, our research made signifi cant progress, and the contours of a Nature Technology development systems started emerging. I feel as if the fog has rapidly started clearing. It is thus fair to say that the book you are holding in your hands is a reexamination of the philosophy of a Nature Technology development system and the actual approaches and methodologies involved. The development of Nature Technology involves using a backcasting approach to envision lifestyles that are wholesome and fulfi lling even under severe environ- mental constraints; identifying the technologies required to enable such lifestyles; searching in nature for the seeds of such technologies; and then—through the fi lter of sustainability—redesigning these as applicable technologies. In our analysis of the lifestyles envisioned with backcasting, we found that many people strongly, yet often unconsciously, yearn for nature and enjoyment in their daily lives. We have also learned that in the development of technologies to enable such lifestyles, the notion of i ki —described in detail in Chap. 1 0 — which takes nature as its point of departure, is of the utmost importance. There are still several hurdles we need to overcome in order to complete a system for the development of Nature Technology. It is, however, my sincere hope that the methodologies and research results presented in this book may help share new ways of thinking about how to shape exciting, wholesome, and fulfi lling lifestyles even in the face of rapidly intensifying environmental constraints, thus also laying a few stones in the path to a new civilization based on a fresh set of values which do not merely extrapolate from the past. Sendai , Japan Emile H. Ishida Okinoerabu Island of Amami Islands 2013.08 Acknowledgements Is it possible to arrive at a balance between the environment and the economy? In this book, we have pulled together the outcome of our pursuit over the last 10 years of an answer to that question. In September 2004, I initiated research at the Graduate School of Environmental Studies at Tohoku University on the issue of how to balance the environment and the economy from the viewpoint of Nature Technology. Regarding worldviews and civilization, I gained much insight participating as a research fellow in the Twenty- First Century Environment, Economy and Civilization Project headed by Professor Yoshinori Yasuda (presently professor emeritus at the International Research Center for Japanese Studies). In 2005, Dr. Ryuzo Furukawa (presently associate professor at the Graduate School of Environmental Studies, Tohoku University) started participating in my research—fi rst as a researcher from a private think tank. Dr. Furukawa has actively pursued new research methods such as lifestyle design based on backcasting or interviews with people in their nineties, and he plays a central role in the lifestyle research which forms the backbone of Nature Technology development. In 2009, we were given the opportunity to set up a Nature Technology Research Consortium as part of the Japan Manufacturing Conference (MONODZUKURI Nippon Conference), which, with Nikkan Kogyo Shimbun as secretariat, enjoys the participation of more than 2,000 corporations. In this forum, we have been able to discuss the relationship between new technologies and ways of living and to promote concrete, new business initiatives. Meanwhile, the SEMSaT Course (Strategic Environmental Management and Sustainable Technology Solution), which I initiated in 2005 at the Graduate School for Environmental Studies—a course which mainly targets people already in work—allowed us to embark on numerous trials of the actual creation and implementation of business systems based on the notion of Nature Technology in the context of corporations, government organizations, and non-governmental organizations. While undertaking such activities, we received many valuable insights and inspirations from people in corporations that helped drive our research forward. Furthermore, in 2012 I had the opportunity to participate as a representative of researchers in the Innovative Materials Engineering Based on Biological Diversity Project (a new academic fi eld vii viii Acknowledgements under the auspices of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology) initiated by Professor Masatsugu Shimomura (Professor, Advanced Institute for Materials Research, Tohoku University)—one of Japan’s foremost biomimetics researchers—and thus was able to experience biomimetics research fi rsthand. At the same time, I was able to gain many valuable ideas and opinions on the new methodologies required to implement Nature Technology in society, and several concrete joint research projects were commenced. I wish to sincerely thank the many friends who were so kind as to participate in these activities. I also wish to express my gratitude to the team of people who supported our efforts on a day-to-day basis: Dr. Ryuzo Furukawa, Dr. Yuko Suto, Dr. Hirotaka Maeda (presently at the Nagoya Institute of Technology), research assistant Koichi Okada, research assistant Tomoko Monobe, research assistant Noriko Konno, and the many students who have been affi liated with my research lab. I am most grateful for their dedicated and tireless efforts. I also wish to thank my friend Peter David Pedersen, who provided much advice as we were setting up SEMSaT and who supervised the translation into English. I also thank Springer Japan for giving me the opportunity to publish this work. Without the understanding and great effort of the staff at Springer, it would not have been possible to share the fi ndings of this book with a wider, international audience. Finally, I wish to express my gratitude to my partner, Ako, who always takes great care to create the best possible environment for me to work in. Sendai, Japan Emile H. Ishida Contents 1 Where Are We Heading? ........................................................................ 1 1.1 What the Great East Japan Earthquake Taught Us .......................... 1 1.2 Contemplating the Nature of Prosperity .......................................... 4 1.3 Where Are We Heading? ................................................................. 7 Bibliography ............................................................................................. 10 2 The Eco-Dilemma .................................................................................... 11 2.1 The Global Environmental Problem and Our Way of Living .................................................................... 11 2.2 The Nature of the Eco-dilemma ....................................................... 12 2.3 Eco-products May Lower Corporate Brand Value ........................... 18 Bibliography ............................................................................................. 19 3 The True Nature of the Global Environmental Problem .................... 21 3.1 Is Global Warming a Global Environmental Problem? ................... 21 3.2 Technological Progress Involves Trade-Offs ................................... 24 3.3 The Global Environmental Problem Is Rooted in the Bloating of Human Activity .................................................. 25 3.4 The Expansion of Human Activity .................................................. 27 Bibliography ............................................................................................. 30 4 A New Way of Manufacturing and Living ............................................ 31 4.1 Manufacturing and Living with Consideration for People .............. 32 4.2 Manufacturing and Living with Consideration for the Earth ........... 34 4.3 Ways of Living (Lifestyles) Incorporating Nature ........................... 35 Bibliography ............................................................................................. 39 5 Forecasting and Backcasting ................................................................. 41 5.1 Lifestyles Based on Forecasting ...................................................... 41 5.2 Measuring the Impact of Forecasting............................................... 43 5.3 The Dominance of Forecasting ........................................................ 44 ix

See more

The list of books you might like

Most books are stored in the elastic cloud where traffic is expensive. For this reason, we have a limit on daily download.