System Dynamics '95 — Volume I
Soft Landing Into The Twenty-First Century
The Requirements
Teruo Higa
Professor of Horticulture
University of the Ryukyus, College of Agriculture
1 Senbaru, Nishihara, Okinawa 903-01 Japan
Abstract
Since the Rome Club published its report, "Limits To Growth," the following have been accepted
by the present generations as common goals to create a better world for future generations: the
efficient use of our limited natural resources, and the control of the growth of population which
shows a tendency to ever consume more and faster.
This movement has so far led to a variety of revolutionary changes in energy-saving technology
as well as the adoption of birth control by governments in Asia such as China, India, and
Indonesia. Since the end of the Cold War, atypical representation of confrontation and competition,
the concept of coexistence and co-prosperity have become more viable and acceptable. The
goals we wish to accomplish may be difficult, especially, if we proceed with the present method
and style of consumption-oriented economic activities and with the burden of an ever growing
population. As barriers among nations, economic and otherwise, are being removed, it not only
eliminates the conceit of an otherwise isolated nation but also helps to make one nation's
problem a shared and more easily and quickly solvable world problem.
As we approach the twenty-first century, people have started accepting the idea of a common
goal of creating a world where people thrive towards coexistence and co-prosperity beyond
religious, political, and ideological differences.
Ina world of limited resources, desires extravagant and beyond its permissible level would
always lead to a state contrary to coexistence and co-prosperity. Therefore, unless we resolve
the problem of shortage, we will not be able to firmly establish coexistence and co-prosperity.
When we consider the phrase "soft landing into the twenty-first century," it is apparent that
we accomplish the following: resolve the problems in our current education system, provide the
technology to replace the consumption based economic activities with that of resource-recovery
and recycling, and provide fundamental solutions to environment, food production, health care,
and energy, all of which are presenting threats to humankind.
Our present approach, the application of effective microorganisms, has started gaining wide
attention as the only technology available now. It has been applied in a wide variety of areas in
the environment, food production, medicine, energy, and industry. It is expected to be a
breakthrough technology promising a soft landing for the people into the twenty-first century.
Introduction
I believe that, in order to make the future of humanity whole, the practical application of
microorganisms is indispensable. At the present time, we would like to offer all of the participants
information regarding the present situation and possibilities of EM technology, and the work we
have been conducting on the applied technology of effective microorganisms.
What Is EM Technology?
EM is an abbreviated designation from the term “effective microorganisms”. Generally speaking,
itis a technology that applies effectivemicroorganisms. EM is nota specific type of microorganism,
it is a mixture of groups of microorganisms that has a reviving action on humans, animals, and
the natural environment. And, most of these microorganisms have been used in food processing
and in the field of medicine. Its safeness has been confirmed from many years of use, and
research facilities in Japan and outside have given investigative results saying that even if drank
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by accident, there is, in particular, no problem. Out of the many countries that are using EM,
there are those that have given permission and judged that it is suitable as a beverage. And, not
just in agriculture, sanitation administrations have actively made practical use of EM as well.
Consequently, these days, where registration permits have been filed in countries throughout
the world, the circumstances have been where permission to produce EM have been granted, and
in the United States, in California, with the strictest standards in the world, EM is allowed to be
manufactured and sold.
EM technology branches into two methods. One method utilizes microorganisms in a direct
manner, and the second method involves the practical use of the by-products of EM. The former
is mainly centered on the environmental fields and the primary industries of agriculture, livestock,
forestry, fisheries, and soon, and the latter is mainly centered on the energy fields in manufacturing
and medicine.
What effective microorganisms have in common in relation to the two methodsis antioxidation.
The effect of antioxidation is to prevent the oxidation of matter and living bodies, which is to
state nothing new. Ultimately, on earth, everything that exists has the nature to deteriorate
through oxidation and collapse or die. Also, human illnesses, taken from a different point of
view, is due to an excess oxidation of the genes, a way to express a malfunction.
Antioxidation substances generated by effective microorganisms and the antioxidation
undulation emissions that accompanies them, has the strength not only to repress the harmful
effects of oxidation, but also to return matter, that has already been oxidized, to its original state.
This is regardless of whether or not it is a living matter or not.
This action has been said of up to now, is the release of entropy by a reaction of oxidation to
reduction. On the contrary, it is the ability to recover entropy through the reaction of oxidation
to antioxidation. The effects of antioxidation mentioned here has caused a difference in the
activity of the S.O.D. of living bodies, a term used in the medical science. (S.O.D. is a free
radical deionizing enzyme or superoxide dismutase.) With the bioactive substances generated by
EM, some of which does not directly activate the S.O.D., remarkable results have been observed
where the deactivation of free radicals (active oxygen) have been occurring in matter and inside
living bodies.
The basis upon which EM technology stands is not limited to a narrow scope of one field,
agriculture, this is since EM suppresses excess oxidation, eliminates them by generating
antioxidants, and since it is microorganisms of multipurpose use.
The Significance of Entropy-Recovery Technology
The development of EM technology started in 1968 with the intention to improve the quality of
crops and create countermeasures against the difficulties of continuous cropping, and the prospects
of its practical use did not materialize until 1980. EM became a practical product in 1982, and
spread throughout the world as the organic farming movement increased. Presently, there are
over sixty countries in the process of or are utilizing EM where more than ten of these countries
have incorporated it into their national policy.
In these countries, by linking the problems in agriculture and the environment together, they
are at the same time solving the problems of sanitation. The catch-phrase of EM technology is
safe, benign but effective, low cost, high quality, and high productivity. The ultimate goal of
EM technology is to construct a reviving type society of coexistence and co-prosperity.
With the human population ever increasing, with limited farmland and limited natural resources,
and with our environmental problems, this grave reality tends to make us see our future with
pessimism. The general understanding people have is that even though coexistence and symbiosis
may be possible, especially for solving our problems, mutual prosperity is not.
Consequently, in order to make the whole of humanity co-prosper through coexistence, we
must solve our problems from the very roots of society, and we must construct a society where
poverty, sickness and conflicts have no chance of developing. For that purpose, through entropy-
recovery technologies which the evolution of the earth is based on, there is aneed to construct a
system of technologies and a system of society centered around such concepts.
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Before humanity created civilizations and the human population exploded, the earth had
developed the function to recover entropy, take in the unlimited amount of energy from space,
and it isn’t an exaggeration to say that the earth has continued to evolve without limits and with
abundance. The results of which are the existence of oil, coal, diverse minerals, plant and
animal resources.
Frankly, the existence of humans today has become contrary to earth’s evolution: building
without restraint, using up and discarding an enormous amount of resources, and gushing out
pollution. We have thus become a burden to the planet, contradicting the natural evolution of
the earth. Left like this, continuously contributing to an excess buildup of entropy through our
pollution, the public would agree that looking at ourselves, we are headed down the road of
self-destruction.
The excess of entropy will lead us to severe pollution and oxidation. Furthermore, if these
conditions of severe pollution and oxidation continues to progress, an environment of harmful
microorganisms and viruses will proliferate and become stronger, and not only will the environment
become further polluted, but it will also cause the outbreaks of disease carrying insects and
incurable diseases endangering all higher life forms.
From the present problems that is being generated on earth, there is an excess outpouring of
entropy everywhere, and to solve these problems, there is the necessity to move towards and
center on the entropy-recovery type of technologies adapted to earth’s evolution.
The Construction of A Reviving Type of Society Based On EM Technology
Based on the theory mentioned up to now, entropy-recovery technologies may be said to be an
impossibility. Scientific discussions aside, grounded on having had confirmed that EM technology
can synthesize substances on a systemic level, we can acquire the solution to all sorts of problems
from the shortages of food, resources, and so forth, to environmental, health, and energy problems.
EM technology can make city perishable waste, paper unsuitable for recycling, and other
organic waste recyclable, and such recycled products can then be used by the primary industries
of agriculture, livestock, forestry, and fisheries into quickly producing the best at a low cost. It
can also make it possible to recycle waste water from manufacturing and the home almost
indefinitely within a self-contained system.
When this technology becomes widely accepted, it will be capable of reducing the staggering
expenses dealing with garbage and water problems.
EM technology also has the remarkable capacity to recycle plastics, paper, rubber, and
textiles at a low cost, and high quality recycled products have begun to appear from these. An
EM ceramic type of this technology which can be made from such things as burnt coal ash and
blast furnace ash, has multipurpose uses. In an antioxidation condition, carbon dioxide absorption
by the microorganisms is several tens of times faster than terrestrial plants, and the conversion of
various natural resources is easier.
The ability to harvest several times more from the same farmland is really the same as being
able to convert several times the amount of carbon dioxide into food, and by the same proportion
itis also cleaning the environment.
Also, if EM technology is put into practical use, all sorts of materials can exhibit additional
functionality. If EM generated antioxidant substances are mixed into plastic and made into
plastic bags, and if rice cultivated with EM is placed in such bags, even after five years it will be
just like standard quality fresh rice.
This technology can benefit the processing of agricultural, livestock, and fisheries products,
and improve the various foods to maintain freshness. When this technology becomes widely
used, food preservatives will become unnecessary. From a larger perspective, looking at the
technology as naturally preserving foods over a long period of time, regardless of a year’s
harvest, good or bad, it can supply high quality foods all over the world and steadily. This
indirectly supports a grand proposal to solve our food problems.
Since the use of sealing plastics, for instance, in packaging and insulation, is a standard,
utilizing EM, there is no need to air condition the storage facility. It is enough to pile the
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merchandise on acement foundation that was made using EM and cover toinsulate the merchandise
with a plastic that was treated with EM.
The application of EM technology has begun to quickly spread into construction and road
building. By just adding 1% of EM to the cement powder (dry weight), the surface-active
strength will increase significantly, and the water clusters will become smaller. For these
reasons, the cement dry-hardens faster, that is, what use to take twenty-five to thirty days, now
only takes three or four days before the cement-molding frames can be taken off. Besides the
increase in the strength of the cement, the reinforcement within concrete will not rust, moreover,
the aggregate alkalization phenomenon, basically defects, will not occur. The effect is, the life
span of structures will extend several times of what it is now.
From this principle, the application could not just be used on the various construction materials
and public works, but also, for the old and easily damaged historical sites by high pressure
injection of antioxidant substances, that is EM, into the structures. With all that it can do, it can
also remarkably prevent termite infestation, and so, on the environment as a whole, it is possible
to create what the Japanese call “lyashiro-chi” which means a place where everything goes in
favor of life, longevity, durability, health, and so on. As for the adaptation of this technology for
the reconstruction of the Osaka-Kobe area after the great earthquake, over time it is not unlikely
to create an lyashiro-chi throughout this entire region.
In the fields of energy and the prevention of deterioration, the application of EM technology
is in the process of becoming revolutionary. As alow cost complete rust prevention technology,
various mining and manufacturing commodities have already shown the remarkable effects of
the deterioration prevention of the technology. Also, fuel efficiency has been confirmed to
increase by more than fifty percent, and due to the prevention of rust, electric lines has also been
confirmed to increase in capacity.
Concerning health, the immune system can be reinforced, and accordingly, genes are able to
self-restore themselves to normal functions. For most incurable diseases, treatment through
conventional medicine has been difficult, but now there is hope and there are already several
reports confirming the effectiveness of EM on incurable diseases.
From all that has been mentioned, if EM technology is applied everywhere in every way,
there is the limitless possibility of reducing the world’s waste to nearly zero. A system can be
created where excellent quality products are made inexpensively, and using the products with
care over a long time, and if they becomes useless and reprocessed and turned into yet higher
value-added products, then we can solve all the shortages in this world.
Since it is too much to mention here in detail the problems concerning energy supply from
biomass and substitute energy resources, it should be stated that, what has been confirmed up to
now regarding high-output energy technologies, they are also, correspondingly, considered cost-
wise effective.
In Conclusion
EM Technology is said to be the technology of a new industrial revolution because of what it is
capable of as mentioned above, and just as food, water, and air are everywhere, it is therefore
necessary that this technology be likewise widespread. Details can be found in the following
books, “Revolutionary Technology to Save the Earth” and “Revolutionary Technology to Save
the Earth 2”. Considering the present condition of the earth, it is necessary to further the rapid
spread of this technology without hesitation.
The following organizations, inside and outside of Japan, are leading the efforts in EM
technology: with regards to agriculture, a foundation called International Nature Farming Research
Center; with regards to the environment, the Foundation for Earth Environment and a foundation
called the Japan Flower Association; with regards to manufacturing, health, energy, and covering
allelse comprehensively, EM Research Organization.
Indonesia, Bhutan, and Malaysia are progressing with EM technology in cooperation with
the United Nations’ UNDP. It is spreading steadily in India and in China. There are many
requests for our assistance from many countries, including, countries in Africa and the Former
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Soviet Union, and because of this, we are actively seeking people mainly with experiences in
those countries to go over there and widespread this technology.
In any case, the profits gained from all over the world resulting from EM activities, have
been put to use in the respective countries for their development, and it is not an exception in
Japan as well. Defining authentic technology as that which produces without waste, at low cost,
and beneficial to people and the environment, it is of real significance that we have organizations
and groups of experts who focus on authentic technologies to reconstruct society towards
coexistence and co-prosperity.
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