The One-Straw Revolution - Multiworld India

uilt as well. When solutions develop in this way, they only sow theseeds for second and third generation pollution problems which will bemore difficult than the previous ones, and more widespread.It is like the case of the greedy farmer who opens the irrigation inlettoo wide and lets the water come rushing into his rice paddy. A crackdevelops and the ridge crumbles away. At this point reinforcement workbecomes necessary. The walls are strengthened and the irrigation channelenlarged. The increased volume of water only increases the potentialdanger, and the next time the ridge weakens, even greater effort will berequired for reconstruction.When a decision is made to cope with the symptoms of a problem, itis generally assumed that the corrective measures will solve the problemitself. They seldom do. Engineers cannot seem to get this through theirheads. These countermeasures are all based on too narrow a definition ofwhat is wrong. Human measures and countermeasures proceed fromlimited scientific truth and judgment. A true solution can never comeabout in this way. [By "limited scientific truth and judgment," Mr.Fukuoka is referring to the world as perceived and constructed by thehuman intellect. He considers this perception to be limited to aframework defined by its own assumptions.]My modest solutions, such as spreading straw and growing clover,create no pollution. They are effective because they eliminate the sourceof the problem. Until the modern faith in big technological solutions canbe overturned, pollution will only get worse.84