脱炭素社会の問題点
Hello everyone. SCIENSPOT is a podcast that shines the spotlight on the latest scientific
technology from Japan. Your host is REN from SCIEN-TALK. Today I wanna talk about the Textbook.
We often hear about the goal of achieving a decarbonized society, especially in the
fight against global warming. This phrase generally means reducing the atmospheric concentration
of carbon dioxide released from burning fossil fuels like oil and coal. However, the Chemical
Society of Japan issued a strong statement in 2022, arguing that the term decarbonization
is misleading and scientifically inaccurate. They are pushing for the use of the term
carbon circulation society instead. Why is decarbonization a problem? Well, if you
hear decarbonization, you might picture a society without carbon. But scientifically,
that's impossible and undesirable. Every living thing, including us, is made of carbon.
Many products we use, like wood and plastics, also contain carbon. Carbon is an essential
element. The core issue is precision. The true goal is not eliminating carbon, but achieving
net-zero emissions, a state where the output and absorption of greenhouse gases, particularly
carbon dioxide, are balanced. This is where the concept of carbon circulation comes in.
We need systems that absorb the carbon dioxide we release and bring it back into circulation.
Think of plants doing photosynthesis, absorbing atmospheric carbon dioxide and converting
it into organic compounds like wood. The goal, therefore, should be to maintain this natural
balance, making carbon circulation society the correct term. We can compare this to managing
resources. We don't want to stop using resources altogether, but we want to ensure that every
resource is circulated without stressing the environment. This fight over terminology is
crucial because misleading words can cause social misunderstandings. Let's look at
another change that happened recently in Japanese textbooks.
遺伝学用語の変更
Some genetics terms for heredity were changed from dominant gene, yusei, and recessive gene,
ressei, to expressive inheritance, kensei, and latent inheritance, sensei. Why the change?
The older terms dominant and recessive were often misunderstood socially. People mistakenly
thought dominant meant a superior gene and recessive meant an inferior gene. Let's
use the simple example of earwax genes. You might have genes for both the dry and wet
types of earwax. If you have both, you usually end up with the wet type. The wet type is
one that is expressed or visible. Changing the terminology to expressive and latent ensured
that the language accuracy reflects the science that one trait merely appears over another
without implying superiority or inferiority. Finally, sometimes it's not just the words
that change, but the scientific facts themselves due to advances like molecular evolution.
For example, in the past, all animals with backbones were categorized simply into five
groups of fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals. However, genetic studies show
that bony fish, like eels, are genetically closer to land vertebrates, like humans, than
they are sole cartilaginous fish, like sharks and rays, or jellyfish, like hagfish. Yes,
an eel is closer to a human than it is to a hagfish. Because of this molecular evidence,
current high school textbooks are moving away from classifying these animals simply as fish.
Today's message is clear. Scientific precision matters. Whether we are talking about climate
goals or genetics, using accurate language like carbon circulation society and expressive
latent inheritance helps prevent misunderstandings and ensure that our goals and knowledge reflect
the underlying scientific reality. The reason I brought up this topic today is that I have two
new project episodes I'd like to introduce. First, I had a collaboration with Tokyo Shoseki,
a major textbook publisher, on the Japanese podcast I appear on, Scientalk.
科学教科書の制作
We invited the chief editor of their elementary school science textbook as a guest,
and we talked in detail about how textbooks are made. Also, we've launched a new show called
Kiku Atarashii Rikka. It means a new way to listen to science. This is also a Japanese podcast,
but if you are interested, please give it a listen. That's all for announcement. This podcast
is broadcast in both Japanese and English. I'd love for you to listen to the podcast and post
your thoughts with the hashtag SciencePod. Thank you for listening and see you next time.
