The event took place today (November 14, 2009) in the Plaza Heisei of Tokyo International Exchange Center.
It started with the speech on sustainable development of Peo Ekberg, environmental consultant coming from the top country in the Climate Change Performance 2008 Index (data provided by the speaker) - Sweden.
He introduced information on the current global climate condition, warning us of the infeasibility for the planet to preserve the similar development with the Western world for all the countries. “We need 3 more planets like Earth for all of the states to reach the same development as the developed countries,” said Peo.
The presentation carried on to 3 pillars of sustainability: economy, environment, and human health. The speaker insisted that the three pillars should not contradict each other for the growth to be sustainable.
He continued on to the examples of Tesla Motors electric cars as successful illustrations of green technologies, as opposed to hybrids of Toyota (that comprise only 3% of Toyota car sales) and highlighted the irony behind Toyota's environmental efforts.
In his speech, Mr. Ekberg had also offered a rule for sustainable development, called “Above & below ground,” stating that humanity should concentrate on using things that are provided above the ground (biogas) and leave those that are below ground (oil) as they are.
He further proceeded to his own experience in helping people. He and his wife have established a computer skills training program for adults “One Planet Cafe” in Zambia. As a result of their efforts, 50 graduates of the program got an opportunity to add their new-acquired skills to resumes and find jobs, in some cases with a salary three times bigger than the original ones. The concluding words of the speech were “Don't take from nature more than you can give back.”
The Forum also included presentations on social entrepreneurship models around the globe. One of them, Phan Huu Viet, introduced an example of a restaurant that has also a vocational school, in which they provide children from the streets of Hanoi with a profession, board, and monthly allowance. Within several years, they have helped about 350 children.
Another successful example of social entrepreneurship takes us to Mumbai. Sitesh Srivastava introduced the supply chain of Mumbai Bento (Tiffin) Boys that deliver housewives' home-cooked food to their husbands at work, a service that costs only 6$ a month but helps employees to make 128$ of monthly salary.
These examples of businesses on par with others, such as “ensophia,” educational web-application, and TiE, a non-profit organization oriented on mentoring, education, and networking with entrepreneurs, were the main focus of the forum, the videos and materials of presentations you can find on Forum's website: http://www.sipjapan.org/
Kamila Kolpashnikova
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Science Agora in Asia
Today, I have visited "Science Agora in Asia: Science in Cultural Context" in Miraikan, Odaiba, Tokyo.
We have listened to a very colorful presentation by the Head of the Division and curator of the Center for Molecular Biodiversity Research, National Musuem of Nature and Science, Japan, Dr. Tsuyoshi Hosoya.
Among the audience, there were representatives of various museums from Australia, as well as researchers and international students from Korea, China, Russia, and the Philippines.
The main topic of the discussion in this "cafe-scientifique" (as the organizers called it) was "science communication using manga." Dr. Hosoya, a mycologist specializing on systematics of fungi, has introduced us to "Moyasimon," a comic book, in which various microbes are used as characters. This manga helped to promote children and young people's interest in mycology, and it was further demonstrated by the success of the exhibition "Inside Talk about Wonders of Fungi: A Mycohistorical Special Exhibition Featuring Japanese Culture MANGA."
This new approach to the education and science communication to the general public has drawn a number of interesting comments from the audience. Overall, most of the participants agreed to the usefulness of playful/entertaining representation of scientific matters to children and their education.
The last comments from the organizers themselves that, depending on the culture of a given society, there could be different tools used to make science more popular have finalized the whole discussion. As a thought to ponder on further, organizers suggested that because manga is more popular in Japan, the strategy of introducing science through manga has proved itself useful within the Japanese culture, however, this cannot always hold true for other cultures and countries. This open question can be an exciting thing to explore...
Kamila Kolpashnikova
We have listened to a very colorful presentation by the Head of the Division and curator of the Center for Molecular Biodiversity Research, National Musuem of Nature and Science, Japan, Dr. Tsuyoshi Hosoya.
Among the audience, there were representatives of various museums from Australia, as well as researchers and international students from Korea, China, Russia, and the Philippines.
The main topic of the discussion in this "cafe-scientifique" (as the organizers called it) was "science communication using manga." Dr. Hosoya, a mycologist specializing on systematics of fungi, has introduced us to "Moyasimon," a comic book, in which various microbes are used as characters. This manga helped to promote children and young people's interest in mycology, and it was further demonstrated by the success of the exhibition "Inside Talk about Wonders of Fungi: A Mycohistorical Special Exhibition Featuring Japanese Culture MANGA."
This new approach to the education and science communication to the general public has drawn a number of interesting comments from the audience. Overall, most of the participants agreed to the usefulness of playful/entertaining representation of scientific matters to children and their education.
The last comments from the organizers themselves that, depending on the culture of a given society, there could be different tools used to make science more popular have finalized the whole discussion. As a thought to ponder on further, organizers suggested that because manga is more popular in Japan, the strategy of introducing science through manga has proved itself useful within the Japanese culture, however, this cannot always hold true for other cultures and countries. This open question can be an exciting thing to explore...
Kamila Kolpashnikova
Saturday, July 25, 2009
TIEC Green Project Meeting July 25, 2009
Yesterday we had two presenters: Yessy Arvelyna and Aymen Charef.
Yessy made a presentation about her research on processing satellite images of ocean surfaces. Aymen's speech was about Marine Protected Areas (MPA) in the Mediterranean.
Yessy made a presentation about her research on processing satellite images of ocean surfaces. Aymen's speech was about Marine Protected Areas (MPA) in the Mediterranean.
Thursday, July 2, 2009
June 27, 2009 TIEC Green Project Meeting
Presenters: Kamila Kolpashnikova, Swit Phuvipadawat.
Kamila made a presentation about her region - Sakha Republic (Russia).
Swit made a informative speech on today's main environmental challenges in Thailand.
Kamila made a presentation about her region - Sakha Republic (Russia).
Swit made a informative speech on today's main environmental challenges in Thailand.
May 23, 2009 TIEC Green Project Meeting
Presenters: Bojan Petrovski, Skiviner Mlowoka
Bojan made a presentation on EU environmental programs, emphasizing the 20/20/20 Program (reduce EU's overall emissions to at least 20% below 1990 levels by 2020 and increase the share of renewables in energy use to 20% by 2020 in EU).
Skiviner's speech was about his home, Malawi, and its environmental problems.
Bojan made a presentation on EU environmental programs, emphasizing the 20/20/20 Program (reduce EU's overall emissions to at least 20% below 1990 levels by 2020 and increase the share of renewables in energy use to 20% by 2020 in EU).
Skiviner's speech was about his home, Malawi, and its environmental problems.
April 25, 2009 TIEC Green Project Meeting
Presenter: Kenichiro Sano
Kenichiro gave us a nice presentation on today's situation with Japanese trees. It appears that unlike the most of the world, Japan has the problem of having too many of them. Moreover, the trees in Japan are strictly protected by laws, that makes very difficult to renew the landscapes.
Kenichiro gave us a nice presentation on today's situation with Japanese trees. It appears that unlike the most of the world, Japan has the problem of having too many of them. Moreover, the trees in Japan are strictly protected by laws, that makes very difficult to renew the landscapes.
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