宮脇昭、果てなき戦い – Endless Battle of Akira Miyazaki

震災後、処理に難航する瓦礫を土台にして、広葉樹の堤防で自然治癒力的な森作りを提唱した宮脇教授のアイディアは注目を浴びた。その着想を僕も素晴らしいと感じた。それは単なる思いつきではなく、この植物社会学者が生涯取り組んできた日本固有の森の再構築という壮大な作業の一環なのだとこの本で知る。本物が発する凄さと面白さでこの一冊は一気に読み終えた。震災後こうした構想が杓子定規な産廃処理法などでテンポ良く進まないのが何としても残念。

Professor Miyazaki’s proposal after the catastrophe was to use the huge heap of tsunami and quake debris as the basis to build forests with traditional Japanese trees that function as seawall along Tohoku coastline, that I thought was a brilliant idea and actually attracted fairly large media attention. In reading this book, you will understand that this idea of his did not just popped up but whole his life as botanical sociologist has been devoted to recreate diminishing landscapes with variety of trees in our country. Regrettably, the progress is rather limited because of inflexible laws regarding the processing of industrial wastes.