J. Technology and Education, Vol.20, No.2, pp.89-96, 2013

教育論文

地球との共生社会の構築

吉村　忠与志

福井工業高等専門学校　物質工学科　(〒916-8507鯖江市下司町)

名誉教授、日本化学会フロー

tadayosi@fukui-nct.ac.jp

 

Restructuring Human Society to Live in Ecological Harmony

with the Earth

 

Tadayosi YOSHIMURA

Department of Chemistry and Biology Engineering, Fukui National College of Technology

(Geshi, Sabae, Fukui 916-8507, Japan)

 

(Received November 16, 2013; Accepted December 4, 2013)

 

This paper summarizes and elaborates on the global environmental issues discussed in the monthly round table meetings held by the Research Institute for Oceanochemistry Foundation. It also provides some of the main recent updates on these topics. Some of these topics were covered in the Professor Chu’s Science Class series published during two and a half years in Fukui Shimbun (Fukui Newspaper).

With the advancement of industrial technologies that rely heavily on oil, the global population has reached 7.1 billion in 2013. This is far too high to be sustainable considering that the world's sustainable population (optimum population) is estimated to be 5 billion. This, in turn, gives rise to a wide range of global environmental issues involving pollution and destruction of the natural environment. The optimum population of 5 billion was estimated taking into account the ecological footprint model. In view of these facts, this paper highlights the importance of restructuring human society to live in ecological harmony with the earth.

Key words: the global environmental, the Professor Chu’s Science Class series, world's sustainable population (optimum population), ecological footprint model