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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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