1
© The Author(s) 2018
H. Komiyama, K. Yamada, New Vision 2050, Science for Sustainable Societies,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-56623-6_1
Chapter 1
The Message in “Vision 2050”
1.1 Behind the Birth of Vision 2050
1.1.1 The Need for a “Macro” Vision
In 1999, as the world grew excited over the start of a new millennium, I published a
volume titled Chikyū jizoku no gijutsu (Iwanami Shinsho) – “The technology for
global sustainability.” In the second half of that decade, the signing of the Kyoto
Protocol had helped to make people everywhere more broadly familiar with the
problem of global warming, and momentum began building on reducing CO 2 emissions. It was also around this time that many began to sense that the material civilization that had supported the dramatic growth of the twentieth century had reached
an impasse. People conscious of these matters began taking action in an effort to
avoid the difficult state of affairs that the exhaustion of energy resources, global
warming, the generation of large amounts of waste, and similar developments present. However, the data and information that provide the grounds for action were
lacking, and discussion likewise had not yet reached a state of maturity.
For people to take action requires them being able to believe that the actions they
are attempting are correct and are being done for the world’s sake. However,
attempts to encourage recycling have been met with people expressing the view that
it merely adds to costs and is unrealistic. Meanwhile, studies on the adoption of
solar batteries have led some specialists to reject them, saying that the payoffs are
not proportionate to the costs and the absolute amounts of energy achieved are
insufficient.
Finding a middle ground among views that directly contradict one another like
this will require a “macro” vision. Such a vision would be one that everyone can
share, that has a consistency as a whole that fully takes into consideration various
crucial, individual items. If there is a shared sense of what the future should look
like, then it will establish the orientation that people should take moving forward as
a matter of course regardless of conflicts over separate arguments like those over
© The Author(s) 2018
H. Komiyama, K. Yamada, New Vision 2050, Science for Sustainable Societies,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-56623-6_1
Chapter 1
The Message in “Vision 2050”
1.1 Behind the Birth of Vision 2050
1.1.1 The Need for a “Macro” Vision
In 1999, as the world grew excited over the start of a new millennium, I published a
volume titled Chikyū jizoku no gijutsu (Iwanami Shinsho) – “The technology for
global sustainability.” In the second half of that decade, the signing of the Kyoto
Protocol had helped to make people everywhere more broadly familiar with the
problem of global warming, and momentum began building on reducing CO 2 emissions. It was also around this time that many began to sense that the material civilization that had supported the dramatic growth of the twentieth century had reached
an impasse. People conscious of these matters began taking action in an effort to
avoid the difficult state of affairs that the exhaustion of energy resources, global
warming, the generation of large amounts of waste, and similar developments present. However, the data and information that provide the grounds for action were
lacking, and discussion likewise had not yet reached a state of maturity.
For people to take action requires them being able to believe that the actions they
are attempting are correct and are being done for the world’s sake. However,
attempts to encourage recycling have been met with people expressing the view that
it merely adds to costs and is unrealistic. Meanwhile, studies on the adoption of
solar batteries have led some specialists to reject them, saying that the payoffs are
not proportionate to the costs and the absolute amounts of energy achieved are
insufficient.
Finding a middle ground among views that directly contradict one another like
this will require a “macro” vision. Such a vision would be one that everyone can
share, that has a consistency as a whole that fully takes into consideration various
crucial, individual items. If there is a shared sense of what the future should look
like, then it will establish the orientation that people should take moving forward as
a matter of course regardless of conflicts over separate arguments like those over