The World of the Interface Between Humans and Nature Through Plants

Katsue Suma

Interviewer: Kiyoshi Itao

Katsue Suma has MC¡Çd ¡ÈGardening for Pleasure,¡É an NHK program, for the last 8 years. Through this program, she began contemplating about plants, and is now fascinated by the world of plants. As a result, she views plants and nature with strong affection. Previously, she served as an anchorperson of ¡ÈCommunications Between Wildlife and Technology: Environmental Technology and IT (Oct. 20, 2001),¡É a symposium that made this interview possible.

Itao: How long have you anchored NHK¡Çs ¡ÈGardening for Pleasure¡É of NHK?

Suma: It¡Çs been 8eight years now. I¡Çm becoming getting more and more hooked on the world of plants thanks to this program. The more I learnknow about plants, the more I¡Çm fascinated I becomeby them. I think plants have a type some kind of wisdom. Through plants as a the medium of plants, we may get to know each other, and even ??become get an interested in insects gathering around flowersfollowers??. I realize more about ¡Èlife¡É by taking care of plants every day.

People say that both plants and insects are on a decline decreasing in urban areas. But a certain specialist told me the other day that this is not true. For example, butterflies usually fly as far as 200 meters. So they can survive if there are potted flowers at intervals of every 200 meters. For that matter, damselflies fly about 1 km, and grasshoppers, 40 meters, more or less.

Itao: So tThat means they maintain their habitats within the limit of their migration lengthspan.

Suma: Exactly. They can survive even in dotted habitats.

People usually place a potted flower or two at the entrance of their houses. And better still, gardening is booming these days. So it¡Çs quite natural to that you find plants every 200 meters or so in urban areas. Insects must be propagatinge accordingly.

I asked the specialist if it was true that plants werearewere really not really decreasing. Then, he cited a case of great titsmice. A great titmouse can survive in an area as small as 1one- hectare. Given that the ratio of green areas is 10%, a great titmouse secures an area of 10 hectares that includes 1one hectare of dotted green areas. Living things are really resourceful.

Flowers also have resources to adjust themselves to their surrounding environments.

Itao: You are making a living out of your hobby. It¡Çs a wonderful thing if you are to enjoy so much of what you dolive in clover. By the wayMeanwhile, what is would be ¡Èthe secret of gardening?¡É I would like to havehear your personal thoughtsopinion on this.

Suma: Asked what is the secret to would be of makinge flowers boom, flower experts may answer that the secretit is to say ¡Ègood morning¡É to your flowers every day. It sounds like a Zen riddle, but what they mean is that you really need to take care of flowers every day.

By so doing so, you will become able to recognize the everyday conditions of flowers. You might feel something is wrong with your flower even if its leaves are still green. Then, you may check the soil. If it¡Çs still wet, you might as well gather that there is something wrong with the roots. You can hear many a lot of unspokenvoiced words from plants by taking care of them dailyevery day. It¡Çs your dialogue with plants that makess them grow. I think quite the exact same thing can be said aboutto the global environment.

Itao: That¡Çs in itself ais practiceing o f a nature interface.

Suma: Being agricultural people, we, Japanese, have been living in harmony with plants and crops. As much as 80% of the households in the Edo era period were engaged in agriculture. Therefore, wWe are basically very good therefore experts at handling dealing with plants in the first place. In other words, we have accumulated a lot of wisdom through the cyclepassage circulation circulation of life.

When we prepare the soil for planting, we first encircle the area with banks. Then, we plant legume along the banks so that they will noton¡Çt be eroded by rain. Legume takes root rapidly and they reinforce the banks much morestronger than ordinary bank protection work does. We even release carps into paddy fields. These carps prey on bugs, supply air to the roots of plants, cultivate the soil by agitating the water, and prevent the water from becoming stagnant. Our ancestors had great wisdom. A farming method using domestic ducks hasare recently gaininged the spotlight these days, but this is nothing more than the reusehabilitation of ancient wisdom.

A prevalent farming method in the Edo era period was highly evaluated by foreign countries. As a matter of fact, a European delegation sent to East Asia reported on the Japanese agriculture at that time, commenting, ¡ÈTthey have an excellent symbioticsociableconvivial and recycling society.¡É In those days, a fertilizer called ¡Èguano¡É imported from South America was widely used in Europe in order to prevent replanting failures. However, the delegation found that the Japanese people were growing rice without using such an expensive fertilizer and did not have causing replanting failures. We plowed human wasteexcrement under the soil, and used dried straw to make carpets (tatami), raincoats (mino), and sandals (waraji).

In short, we madke full use of crops not only as food but also as materials for everyday items. Worn outUsed-up straw wasis used as horse bedding, and usually ended up being returned to paddy fields as a fertilizer. The delegation was deeply impressed by the very system of this recycling society.

Itao: Indeed, it¡Çs was a remarkable recycling society. But the current farming population of Japan currently makes up only 5% of the general population, and recently farmers use too much agrochemical these dayss. The wisdom we have been accumulating seems to have faded away. While our ancestors had the wisdom to successfully incorporate plants into theirour lives, and to create an ideal recycling society, modern Japanese people have left that wisdom somewhere behind.

Suma: That¡Çs exactly the case. However, we can¡Çt force everyone to become engaged in farming. Instead, I would like to encourage people to be engaged in gardening. We can have contact with plants either through agriculture or gardening. Even amateur gardeners know that they should plow leaf mold under the soil to make it fertile.

Moreover, we gain a warmer feeling taking care of plants makes our feelings warmer. I never use raw tap water to water plants; I wait until the water is at room temperature so that the plants do notwon¡Çt catch a cold. The secret of gardening, that is to say, growing plants, lies in taking good care of ¡Èlife¡É to protect it. Plants dondon¡Çt talk. So I try to be thoughtful ofor them, imagining that they do no¡Çt want to have cold water poured over them, or that a sudden change in the environment wouldmust be hard for them.

Itao: I see. You are really takineg care of plants with all your heart. In a way, yYou mean to say that plants have a sort of their own some kind of characters even if they don¡Çt talk. It¡Çs also our policy to prepareedit ¡ÈNature Interface¡É based on such thoughtsmindset.

Suma: Before anything, we need to create an eco-friendly heart. And I hope we can make use of technology to support this heart type of particular mindset.

The technology supportinged devices such as a telephone, fax machine, and the Internet isare in the realm of engineers; we just have to enjoy the convenience of it, which is supported by the technology. But there are some areas in which technology still stands in front of usplays a leading role, whenwhile it is supposedd to be working be behind the scenes. When we consider the environment, we shouldought to put the technology part out of viewour sight, and give priority to the other part that enriches our lives.

Itao: I agree entirely with your idea. I¡Çve been working with engaged in computer equipment for more than 30 years, and have been developing various machines and systems from the viewpoint of serving the users and supporting businesses. Specifically, they are printer memory devices, optical disks, etc. But all of these are intended to for makinge people happier and facilitateing businesses. The ultimate goal of our technological development is to enrich our lives.

With this concept as a backdrop, my way of thinking began to change a little aroundin about 1990. A hTalking about my concluseion first, Hhuman interface uses information technology just for our enjoymentfun, ??to stateay the conclusion first??. So I wondered if I could make use of information technology tofor observeing the environment and human bodies, particularly by replacing thea human interface with a nature interface. Taking agriculture as an example, I plan to inspect the soil and air conditions of a certain farm, and transmit the data I have gathered.

Suma: Is Would that be possible?

Itao: Yes. We use various kinds of sensors such as a water quality sensor. Data on water quality, soil, temperatures, and air can be directly transmitted from farms. We are entering an era where even ??datadate on odors?? can be transmitted.

The plan is to convert ¡Èanalog data already available on farms¡É into digital data that will be sorted out for practical use. By so doing so, we will be able to make use of information technology tofor observinge nature and the conditions of human bodies.

Suma: It seems to me that the basic concept of ¡ÈNature Interface¡É lies in the coexistence of technology with nature. I hope we can apply this concept to gardening as well.

Itao: We are going to create a more comfortable environment based on the support of technology.

Suma: Sometimes flowers don¡Çt grow smoothly, and I can¡Çt quite put my finger on why they don¡Çt. That¡Çs the problemtrouble within taking care of flowers. If I can track down the root to know causes such as a shortage of water ofr fertilizer using a sensor in the soil, that would be a great help to me. But this is just a supplementary means. You can¡Çt make up for a shortage of sunshine with artificial lights.

Itao: As human beings are living things after all, we may as well return to nature. On the other hand, we don¡Çt want to give up the conveniences that we have obtained. The essence of technology lies in resolving this paradox.

Suma: When we visit houses in rural areas, we tend to say, ¡ÈWwhat a wonderful place this is! I want to live in a house like this.¡É But we do prefer flush toilets to privies, and we need electricity as well. Our selfishness that goes after the sunny side of technology has reached thea point of no return.

Itao: And it is technology typified by information technology that could satisfy our ambivalent feelings. For that matter, there is an ongoing project in the field of agriculture ? a project that would automate the cultivation of tomatoes, cucumbers, strawberries, etc., with the use of IT.

Suma: We should not be dominated by IT, nor should we go back to a primitive society. Naturalists often argue that forests should be left intact. Meanwhile, part of nature that coexists with human beings has long been called ¡ÈSatoyama,¡É which is maintained and vitalized by the people living nearby. They thin out forests moderately, cut the bottom grass, and enjoy the blessings of nature, while conserving those forests. This ¡ÈSatoyama¡É concept is again receiving widespread attention again. Nature that is in harmony with human beings is the one that keeps an appropriate human interface.

Itao: Recently, there has been a lot of talk about a lifecycle assessment. It seems that this particular assessment is being applied to ¡ÈSatoyama.¡É

Well, tThank you very much for being with me today.