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| 2. The technological measures for environmental
stresses |
In 1993,
Friedrich Schmidt-Bleek proposed the Ecological Rucksacks and MIPS
(Material Input Per unit Service) concepts as effective technological
measures for ecological management.(4) He posited that enormous amounts
of ores, gravels, water and various materials that were moved by mankind
add significant stress to the environment. He also responsed the ecological
rucksacks and MIPS can be measures that indicate the environmental
stresses caused by the processing and use of goods. These environmental
stresses are expressed by the weight of materials that are moved in
nature in order to produce material goods. These measures describe
the complicated environmental stress factors in an aggregated form.
The Ecological Rucksacks and MIPS give reproducible results and effective
technological measures, and thus are technologically creative.
Ernst Ulrich von Weizsaecker invited
Schmidt-Bleek to the Wuppertal Institute. Initially, the ecological rucksacks
and MIPS concepts were mainly concerned with materials, but after
the discussions with von Weizsaecker, the concepts were extended to
include relationships with energy efficiency and resource productivity.
In addition, relationships with toxic materials became clear. Furthermore,
von Weizsaecker presented in his book(5) that the concepts were very
important to our society in the 21st century. This presentation by
von Weizsaecker made the ecological rucksacks and MIPS concepts famous
worldwide.
Schmidt-Bleek and the Wuppertal Institute have been collecting
basic data that are necessary to calculate MIPS and popularize the
concepts under associated activities. As an example, the "Klagenfult
Innovation" was reported(6).
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