earth day

After a few days of chilly and cloudy days we have summer again here.

As I planned a trip to Japan in a few weeks I've been working without weekends and holidays. But I'm not missing the lovely sunshine. We have a great terrace corridor outside our studio and am working out there some time. The clay dries really quickly and it's been great to work with the material and the process.

This time with the troubles with the nuclear plants in Fukushima, we really have to think about the sustainable way to produce energy. I am not a specialist so can't do any suggestions but I hope we'll find a way. And the only thing I could do is to be conscious of the environment. There are some people who gave us the ideas of the nature, the earth and how to communicate with them. (And there have been a lot of arguments about the environment as the other or a part of you: the nature to conquer or the nature to work with.) Japanese had been good at working with the nature but we might have been conceited with the modern technology.

Here is a quote to think on the earth day. A quote from 'Operating manual for Spaceship Earth' by Buckminster Fuller.

"Of course, our failures are a consequence of many factors, but possibly one of the most important is the fact that society operates on the theory that specialization is the key to success, not realizing that specialization precludes comprehensive thinking."

今日はアースデーということをアメリカの友人から教えてもらいました。

環境問題は今人類が抱える大きな問題ですが、特にまた福島の原発によって考えさせられるものがありました。文明とそれを支えるエネルギーのこと。また、エネルギーの恩恵を受けている人々と被害にあっている人々のこと。（福島だけに限らず、温暖化による気候の変化で砂漠化、浸水、洪水の多発などで生活環境がひどくなっている地域は地球上にたくさんあります。）

バックミンスターフラーというエコロジーの先駆者がいました。『宇宙船地球号』という考え方を唱えたアメリカの思想家です。地球を宇宙船に例え、資源の使い方、乗組員としての考え方を説いた本があります。私自身、8年経っても読み切れてはいませんが、一つの同じ船にのる乗組員として、どう生活していけばいいのか、考えています。