NATURE & CULTURE
Understanding environment through culture, UEHIRO×WASEDA Seminar series

Field Notes

A glass of wine can change the world

Title: A glass of wine can change the world

A glass of wine can change the world

Yes, we can change the world, if we change our daily food and drink.
You may think I’m a dreamer.
But I hope someday you will join us.

Beau Paysage
Eishi Okamoto

グラス1杯のワインで地球が変わります。

そう、食べ方や飲み方で地球は変わるのです。
そんなの夢に話だとあなたは思うかもしれません。
でもいつかあなたも私たちと一緒に
歩き出してくれるのを願っています。

Beau Paysage
岡本英士

Eishi Okamoto is an organic wine producer.
The move toward organic is taking off in sake/wine market.
Eishi Okamoto noted “I support the movement and am glad that more alcohol producers are joining the conversation on sustainability”

When we were introduced to this wine at a restaurant in Kamakura, the owner explained that “We as consumers, need to be aware of our consumption power. What we choose to buy, to eat and to drink will inevitably have impacts on our ecosystem. When we endorse a certain brand and choose to buy from it, it also means that we are acknowledging their business practice, human labor conditions and its impacts on environment”.

We all need to be conscious consumers. Before buying something, we should take a step back and think how it was made, how it was delivered to the store and its impacts on environment. And think if there’s any better options in terms of environmental sustainability.

We can change the world by being a conscious consumers.
Perhaps, it can start from a glass of wine.

岡本英士さんはオーガニックのワイン醸造家。
お酒/ワイン市場でもオーガニックへのムーヴメントが広がっています。
岡本さんは「このムーヴメントに賛同しますし、アルコール業界がサステイナビリティの役を担えるのはすばらしいことです。」とコメントしています。

このワインを私たちが鎌倉のとあるレストランで紹介されました。
レストランのオーナーの方がこのワインについての説明を次のようにされていました。

「私たち消費者として、消費者の力について気を遣わなければいけません。買うもの、食するもの、そして飲むもの、それぞれ必ず地球の環境に影響しています。商品を買うという事は、その会社のビジネス理念、労働環境、環境への配慮に賛同するという事です。」

消費者としての力を意識しましょう。
購入する前に、それはどのように作られ、どのように食卓に届けられ、環境にどのような影響を与えるのかを。そしてより良い選択肢はないのか。

消費者としての力を意識する事で地球が変わります。
それはグラス1杯から始めることができますね。

“Effect of Typhoon Hagibis to the Environment based on People’s Reaction towards Emergency Responses”

On October 19, 2019, Tokyo was in complete standstill, anticipating the effects of Typhoon Hagibis, the strongest typhoon to hit Japan in years. Groceries and convenience stores were wiped out; trains remained empty or were suspended; no one dared to leave the safety of their homes. In response to this, Tokyo and its wards issued emergency warnings to all citizens in Japan. However, my group and I questioned these emergency warnings and their effectiveness, especially towards foreigners. Recently, foreigners living in Japan have been increasing every year, yet we noticed that Japan – although trying – cannot adjust as fast as they are coming. The following are the summarized responses […]

Kamakura grows

After a first article describing our experience of Mr Wada’s Atelier Kitchen, some of us wrote a reflection on how agriculture should be done today. Challenges such as climate change, land loss and the erosion of community sense are tackled in Mr Wada’s community farming. The operation of the farm, built onto a former parking lot, is carried out by a communal agriculture club led by Mr Wada. The day we visited the farm, we got the chance to see a member coming to do some farm work. The main way the local club communicates is via a facebook group. The members share their “farming diaries” to each other on […]

Kamakura eats

On October 27 we went with a motivated group of students to Kamakura. Here we would learn about sustainable and small-scale farming and how to cook delicious food with healthy organic local produce. We set foot in a small shop not far from Ofuna station. Here we were warmly welcomed by Wada-san. Wada-san is a warm, hardworking and innovative individual, who has started his own farm and shop after he was done being the middleman. He used to work for a big company where he worked in-between the producers and the shops. He decided that he wanted to break this cycle of middleman’s and create a business where everything is […]

Report

Nature and Culture final report – Aino Owada

Nature and Culture – Final Report Aino Owada   No one would disagree with the concept of sustainable life to keep our commons with ecological ethics. There is, however, a large gap between ideal concepts and behaviors in reality – as Greta Thunberg actively warns against inaction on the climate crisis.   The final symposium held on January 24th made us think deeply about it – how to encourage people to be responsible for the environmental issue on a daily basis. 20 students with diverse backgrounds joined the workshop and had a fishbowl discussion to enclose the class.   Through the symposium, I learned the importance of NOTICING the fact […]

Final Report (Hannah Choi)

 

Final Report

View from Ofuna Station Throughout this course of “Understanding the Environment through Culture, Field Study of Sustainable Design  01” we got to learn a lot about the environment, especially about the commons and how we can improve the management system to protect the commons from being over-exploited and degraded. In the class, we spent most of our time exchanging our ideas on sustainability and working on how to achieve a balance between nature and our everyday life, or in other words, how to enjoy the convenience in our life while still enhancing nature and preserving it. Besides, we also learned about other concepts like SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) and carbon […]

Final Report (Nanako Terada)

On our first day of class, we were assigned to draw our own “ideal sustainable chair”. This exercise seemed simple at first, but as I contemplated on this, it actually turned out to be more difficult than I had expected. What are the definitions for sustainability? Do we have to consider not only human species but also other living creatures to attain a sustainable environment? In the end, I decided to draw a chair that would help slow down global warming. However, now coming to the end of the course, I realized that attaining a sustainable society is of course not all about global warming. There are various aspects with […]

Final report (Kanako Noro)

“Well, I need to do something right for our future, immediately.”  This was my first expression after seeing an exhibition about plastic pollutions in United Nations, NY. Nowadays Everybody talks about how serious plastic problem is, and I thought I knew it well. However, the reality was beyond what I expected, and I was just overwhelmed. At the same time, I was scary that these issues keep going and become much bigger while I’m having a lunch with my friends and taking a nap in a class. “We cannot ignore what is happening in our planet, and each of us must make some actions.” This vague but strong awareness let […]

Final Report (Bea Po)

One of the most memorable moments about this class was definitely the field trip to Takahata. In Takahata, my group and I were assigned with one of the farmers. Our assignment was to first, harvest the onion leek, and then pack them altogether into bundles. Secondly, we had to clean the carrots and other vegetables to be ready for packaging again. It was interesting to see how local farmers whom stick to their value of organic farming, live. I also have a whole new appreciation towards Japanese farmers because of all the labor they do, and additionally, the amount of commitment and passion they put into their work. It was […]

Final report (Yuka)

Symposium We had a symposium with the theme of “common” on the last class. My group “grassroots” discussed the topic of the grassroots movements for young generation. We picked up Scotts Miracle-Gro, a foundation that provides green places and garden for children. According to NSR newswire, “Today’s youth spend less time outdoors than any other generation.” This situation gives rise to children’s social, mental and physical health problems. SMG foundation emphasis on supporting community-driven garden and green space projects that directly engage youth in order to deal with these problems. It is said that outdoor playing and gardening leads increased consumption of vegetables, increased emotional well-being and better academic performance. […]

Final Report (Miyu Asai)

Grassroots Activity At the symposium on the last day of the class, my group’s topic was “grassroots”. Speaking of the grassroots movement, I remember that I did it when I was in elementary school. My school took some classes for picking up garbages on the street. Though I was too young and had no idea about grassroots movement, I just knew that no one should thorough garbages on the street, I think that it was an important activity to let children like me think where garbages should go. The first time I realized my interest in social problems, especially in environmental issues such as waste, was when I was in […]

Final Report (yushi)

    I believe in order to reach the solution and achieve the commons, media should play a vital role. The lack of understanding/interests for environmental crisis is mainly led by the lack of portrayal in the media. Instead of talking about wildfire in Australia, Japanese media would talk about the actor would had affairs or the actress who had been arrested for the drug use. They will talk about the wildfire for a minute, then shift the story and talk about cute dogs in order to gain high ratings. People do not like to hear detrimental truth, and people like to hear/see what they want to hear/see.   This […]

Final Report

Nature and culture final essay Out of all the courses I took this semester, “Understanding environment through culture, field study of sustainable design” course was definitely an exception since my area of studies are more related to mathematical subjects. As a civil and environmental engineering student, I recall this one lecture I had from my first year in college quite vividly. It was an introductory course about civil engineering and one of the guest lecturers asked us what kind of qualities we should have in order to become a good civil engineer. Since he gave us multiple answers to choose from, majority of the class went with the obvious and […]

Final report (Chan C.)

Symposium The topic of my group at the symposium was “grassroots”. By grassroots, we mean our relationships with nature, especially that of children. The goal of our presentation was to analyze the current problems of grassroot awareness and to suggest what should be done to have a better future.   Reflections on our relations with nature One of the current problems we highlighted was that nowadays children spend less time in nature than previous generations. In our presentation I asked the audience when was their last time hugging a tree. For me, my first time hugging a tree was around 5-year-old during a family trip. Then, I have not hugged […]

Final report 2019-2020 (Nicolas Belleville)

Introduction This report aims to provide a summary on the lessons learned during class and fieldwork from a student’s perspective, and share perspectives on how ecological ethics can contribute to society. In my academic experience, this is the first time I benefit of a class focusing of empowering students while offering them the possibility to connect with each other, instead of setting demanding objectives to prove compliance to the course syllabus. My general experience of Waseda courses showed me the importance of letting students be creative. In contrast to my experience in Switzerland where most classes grade very strictly defined reports, presentations and classes, the Japanese style education I went […]

Final Report (JeongHoon Lee)

  Mālama ʻĀina is the traditional concept and commons in Hawai’i which means to take care and nurture the land with love so that the ʻāina (land) will return all the things we need in order to live and sustain for all future generations. It is the traditional concept of the native Hawaiian language (ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi) of a spiritual and physical relationship and the bond between the man and to cherish the spirit of the ʻāina (land). For native Hawaiians, sustainability is part of their lifestyle. Natural resources in Hawai’i are produced with the sole purpose of using it responsibly and preserve it for future generations for a sustainable future. […]

Final Report(Kosuke Nagano)

Outcome of the symposium On 4th January, we had a symposium about “commons.” Speakers sat in a small circle and audiences gathered around. Regardless of you are presenter or audience, you can get a microphone and give your opinion towards presenters’ topic. We had three groups, grassroots for children, policy, and spirit. Each group picked up one article happened in 2020 and predict the future situation in 2030 related to the article. My group named grassroots for children focused on grassroots movements for environmental issues and sustainable life. Since grassroots movement is a bottom-up movement and implicate us an image of plants growing from a sprout to lush greenery, we […]

Final report (Van Anh)

The OECD defines ecological ethics as moral principles governing the human attitude towards the environment, and rules of conduct for environmental care and preservation.

Commons

Commons There are different ways of thinking about commons. We can think of the ideas of Garrett Hardin (1968) wherein commons are in a constant tragedy because of the greediness of humans. Humans only think about themselves and will therefore not act in a way that is best for the community (ibid.). An example of this could be overfishing, too much woodcutting or air pollution (ibid.). Or we can sympathize more with the words of Elinor Ostrom et al. (1999). She argues that humans can and will act in the good of the community regarding commons (ibid.). Here humans are capable of self-managing commons and can act in a matter […]

Final Report Fall 2019 (Lim Sze Lynn)

Symposium (Jan 24) outcome   On the last day of class, we did a fish-bowled styled symposium with the theme of “commons” where 3 groups were formed and took turns to be in the centre to present their ideas. The 3 groups, with teams named spirit, grassroots, and policy, talked about commons and the different ways of dealing with environmental issues from different perspectives, focusing on specific recent articles in 2020.    My group “spirit” discussed the topic of the recent wildfire that happened in Australia. We related the problem with a similar phenomenon that happened in California, which was unfortunately caused by man (power company). In 10 years, we predict that […]

Presentation

Analysis