"Biomass Nippon Strategy" was decided at the Cabinet meeting, government of Japan on December 27, 2002. Local regions have a large amount of biomass . When biomass are used, the regions are expected to have big effectiveness . But biomass at local regions is not utilized sufficiently today. There are two reasons. One is the uncertainty of its quantity . The other is left on farmland for collection cost and labor reasons . For biomass utilization at local communities, this is the key to collect /transport and convert them efficiently in their communities. However, there is little research on utilizing biomass as a resource for local regions. This is the case study to examine the effective use of biomass resources at Samegawa-Village, Higashi shirakawa-County, Fukushima Prefecture . In this region, Livestock production has increased since 1970's. Consequently, 503.0t of nitrogen/year(N/y) was imported as feed; concentrated feed, pasture, and three isonitrogenous total mixed rations (TMR). 406.8t-N/y was generated as livestock manure by two livestock production systems; one was small-scale livestock production system and the other was large-scale industrial livestock production system. Individual small-scale farmers utilize all of their livestock manure containing 141.2t-N/y to compost containing 84.8t-N/y, and applied to 769ha of farmland. On the other hand, industrial swine manure has not utilized, it has accounted for 265.6t-N/y. If this industrial swine manure composted and applied to 769ha of cultivated farmland; 436.2kg/ha of nitrogen should be applied, environmental pollution may occur. But, If these livestock manure are utilized as compost and applied to extended both 316 ha of non-cultivated farmland and 395 of non-fertilized grassland, nitrogen application rate was estimated 226.6kg/ha. Moreover, if feed crops are cultivated in those areas, 28, 440t of grass could be harvested. Recently, inflation of feed crop price, public and livestock animal health problems need feeding more grass, hay and silage. It will be a good solution that considering land-livestock balances from an environmental point of view and applying livestock manure compost to extended grassland on-site.

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For prevention of global warming, use of bio-ethanol has received considerable attention. The action of consumers purchasing bio-ethanol fuel can be considered as a willingness to pay (WTP) against global warming. The gasoline price, however, always changes, WTP for bio-ethanol fuel under a fixed gasoline price does not reflect the realities. We thus need to consider the variation of gasoline price for estimating WTP. Therefore, it is necessary to modify contingent variable method to take into account variation factor. In this study, we asked WTPs for E3 (3% bio-ethanol blended gasoline) under the three gasoline prices: 110yen, 120yen and 130yen, and estimated the patterns of WTPs. Based on the identified patterns of WTPs, consumers are separated into three groups: (1) people having no additional WTP against gasoline price, (2) people who decrease WTP when the gasoline price increases and (3) people who have constant WTP even when the gasoline price changes. Existence of the third group is first suggested by this analysis. Finally, we performed consumption simulation: When both gasoline and E3 are sold, the price of E3 setting 9yen higher than gasoline price maximizes the total sales price that yields 2∼3% increment.

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The attitude of people toward acceptance of science and technology is called "public acceptance, " and this public acceptance is thought to be determined based on a balance of two psychological factors: perception of risk and perception of benefit. This research was conducted in order to clarify the relationship between public acceptance and the current state of subjective perception by the general public of the risks and benefits of fuel cells. Questionnaire surveys were administered to randomly selected citizens in the Sagamihara Region and Yakushima Region, where local hydrogen stations have been built, and the following conclusions were reached as main results: 1) There were many people with a positive view of the "environmental benefits" of hydrogen and the "future potential" of fuel cells, and there were many people with a negative view of the "economy" of fuel cells. There are same people with a positive and negative view of the "safety" of fuel cells. 2) The more knowledge a person has about fuel cells, the more positive is their view of hydrogen and fuel cells, and the more positive a person's view of hydrogen and fuel cells, the greater their intent to adopt or prioritize fuel cells in their region.

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Environmental science is an interdisciplinary study, consisting of many disciplines, including environmental history. In this paper, I examine four secret telegrams from the point of view of environmental history. These telegrams were mainly sent from the embassy of Japan to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and others during the launch of the World Commission on Environment and Development. The telegrams were recently discovered in the Ookita Saburo Memorial Office in Tokyo. Mr. Ookita was a member of the Commission at the time. The first telegram indicates the conflict between Chairperson Gro Harlem Brundtland and Vice-chairperson Mansour Khalid, according to Swedish authorities. The second one hints at the possible resignation of Brundtland, according to Canadian authorities. The third telegram, sent by Brundtland herself, reveals her inner thoughts. The fourth one is a report of the preparatory meeting of the Commission held in 1983, sent by the officer of the Permanent Representative of Japan to UN Organizations in Geneva, Switzerland. These telegrams demonstrate the tremendous leadership that Chairperson Brundtland exercised despite the conflict between developed countries and developing countries. It appears that Nordic countries supported her and also influenced the Commission to form the Sustainable Development concept.

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