1995 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary
Trade and Environmental Problems
| Project/Area Number |
06808050
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for General Scientific Research (C)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Research Field |
環境影響評価(含放射線生物学)
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| Research Institution | The University of Tokushima |
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Principal Investigator |
MAYUMI Kozo The Univ.of Tokushima, Fac.of IAs Associate Professor, 総合科学部, 助教授 (40253182)
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| Project Period (FY) |
1994 – 1995
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| Keywords | North-South Trade / Sustainable Development / Ecological Economics / Environmental Ethics |
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| Research Abstract |
The first part of our study shows that the environmental crisis, the erosion and degradation of lands in particular, is the result of our myopia : our interest is to increase production as much as possible within a very short span of time, instead of paying a sufficient attention to the long run effect of our conduct on the welfare of the future generations. First of all, we examine similarities between farming and manufacturing, mainly throughviable technological points of view. We also investigate essential differences between them by noting the fundamental asymmetry of the two sources of low entropy (6) : sunlight and fossil fuels. We show that agriculture cannot achieve a higher productivity than manufacturing due to this asymmetry. Then we show that modern agriculture is nothing but manufacturing, strongly against the patternof nature through ecological succession.
The second part of our study is intended as a possible theoretical step to reorientation toward not only realization of the self-sufficient economic system in each region of the world but also enhancement of conditions for sustainability in the world as a whole. Section 2 introduces both differences and similarities of ecological degradation in the past and present, a special attention being paid to type two efficiency. After touching on standard theory of international trade, Section 3 gives an entropy theoretical approach to North-South trade issues and three proposals for promotion of sustainability. Section 4 reconsiders relationship of man with nature in a historical setting. We show that the origin of ecological crisis can be seen in the change in the mode of man's evolution. In the final section we touch on the problem of perception of ecological decline from a hierarchy theoretical point of view.
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Research Products
(4 results)
